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ALARM

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A Serious Treatise on Conversion*

BY JOSEPH ALLEINE.

PUBLISHED BY THE

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,

NO. 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW-YORK*

O. Fanshaw, Printer.

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*#* In this Edition some obsolete words and phrases are
altered, and a few passages omitted. — The Author's Six
Questions lo the Unconverted, and Counsels for the Con-
verted are added-

■

Paga,
INTRODUCTION.

An Earnest Invitation to Sinners to turn to God, in or-
der to their eternal salvation, 5

CHAPTER I.

Showing what Conversion is not, and correcting some
Mistakes about it, 7

CHAPTER II.
Showing positively what Conversion is, - 14

CHAPTER III.
Of the Necessity of Conversion, . 42

CHAPTER IV.

Showing the Marks of the Unconverted, - -63

CHAPTER V.

Showing the Miseries of the Unconverted, - - 78

CHAPTER VI.
Containing Directions to the Unconverted, - 104

CHAPTER VII.

Containing the Motives to Conversion ... 133

Six Questions to the Unconverted, ... 147

Conclusion, 150

Counsels for the Converted, « 159

• 6 0 a

INTRODUCTION.

AN EARNEST INVITATION TO SINNERS TO TURN
TO GOD.

Dearly beloved, I gladly acknowledge myself a debtor
to you all, and am concerned, as I would be found a
good steward to the household of God, to give to every
one his portion. But the physician is most solicitous
for those patients whose case is most doubtful and haz-
ardous ; and the father's concern is especially turned
toward his dying child. So unconverted souls among
you call for special solicitude and earnest effort to pluck
them as brands from the burning ; therefore to them I
shall first apply myself in these lines.

But whence shall I fetch my argument ? Wherewith
shall I win them ? O that I could tell ! I would write
to them in tears, I would weep out every argument, I
would empty my veins for ink, I would petition them
on my knees. O how thankful should I be if they would
be prevailed with to repent and live !

How long have I labored for you ! How often would
I have gathered you ! This is what I have prayed for
and studied for these many years, that I might bring you
to God. O that I might now do it ! Will you yet be en-
treated ?

But, Lord, how insufficient am I for this work? Alas !
wherewith shall I pierce the scales of Leviathan, or
make the heart to feel that it is as hard as adamant, hard
as the nether mill-stone 1 Shall I go and speak to the
tenants of the grave, and hope the dead will obey me
1*

6 INTRODUCTION.

and come forth ? Shall I make an oration to the rocks,
or declaim to the mountains, and think to move them
with arguments ? Shall I give the blind to see ? From
the beginning of the world was it not heard that a man
opened the eyes of the blind ; but thou, 0 Lord, canst
pierce the heart of the sinner ; I can but draw the bow
at a venture, but do thou direct the arrow, slay the sin,
and save the soul of the sinner that casts his eyes on
these pages.

There is no entering into heaven but by the strait
passage of the second birth ; " without holiness you
shall never see God." Now set yourselves then to seek
him. Set up the Lord Jesus in your hearts— kiss the
Son, embrace the tenders of mercy, touch his sceptre
and live ; for why will ye die ? I beg not for myself,
but would have you happy : this is the prize I run for
My soul's desire and prayer for you is, that you may
be saved.

What greater joy to a minister than to hear of souls
born unto Christ by his instrumentality 1

I beseech you suffer plainness and freedom with you
in your deepest concern. I am not playing the orator,
these lines are upon a weighty errand indeed — to con-
vince, to convert, and to save you. If I would quiet a
crying infant, I might sing to him in a pleasing mood,
and rock him asleep; but when the child is fallen into
the fire, the parent takes another course ; he will not
try to still him with a song or a trifle. I know, if we
succeed not with you, you are lost ; if we cannot get
your consent to " arise and come away," you perish
for ever : no conversion, and no salvation : we must
get your good will, or leave you miserable.

Some of you do not know what I mean by conver-
sion, and in vain shall I attempt to persuade you to that

Chap. I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 7

which you do not understand 5 therefore for your sakes
I will show what this conversion is. Others cherish se-
cret hopes of mercy, though they continue as they are;
and for them I must show the necessity of conversion.
Others are like to harden themselves with a vain con-
ceit that they are converted already ; to them I must show
the marks of the unconverted. Others, because they feel
no harm, fear none, and so sleep upon the top of the
mast ; to them I shall show the misery of the uncon-
verted. Others sit still, because they see not their way
of escape ; to them I shall show the means of conver-
sion. And finally, for the quickening of all, I shall
close with the motives to conversion*

CHAPTER I.

Showing what Conversion is not, and correcting some mistakes
about it.

Let the blind Samaritans worship they know not
what, John, 4 : 22. Let the heathen Athenians inscribe
their altar " To the unknown God." Acts 17 : 22. Let
Papists commend ignorance as the mother of devotion.
They that know man's constitution, and the nature of
the reasonable soul's operation, cannot but know that
the understanding has such empire in the soul, that he
who will go rationally to work must labor to let in
light there. And therefore, that you may not mistake
me, I shall first show you what 1 mean by conversion.

Truly the devil hath made many counterfeits of
conversion, and cheats one with this, and another with
that; and such craft and artifice he hath in his mystery

8 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION.

of deceits, that (if it were possible) he would deceive
the very elect. Now, that I may cure the ruinous mis-
take of some who think they are converted when they
are not, I shall show you the nature of conversion, both
what it is not, and what it is.

We will begin writh the negative.

It is not the taking upon us the profession of Chris-
tianity. Christianity is more than a name. If we will
hear Paul, it lies not in word, but in power. 1 Cor. 4 :
20. And are there not many that mention the name
of the Lord Jesus, that yet depart not from iniquity ?
2 Tim. 2:19, and "profess they know God, but in
works deny him ?" Titus, 1 : 16. And will God re-
ceive these for true converts ? What ! converts from
sin, when yet they live in sin ! We find not only pro-
fessors, but preachers of Christ, and wonder-workers,
rejected because evil-workers. Matt. 7 : 22, 23.

It is not putting on the badge of Christ in baptism.
Ananias, and Sapphira, and Simon Magus were baptized
as well as the rest. How fondly do many mistake here,
deceiving and being deceived! dreaming that effectual
grace is necessarily tied to the external administration
of baptism, (which, what is it but to revive the popish
tenet of the sacraments working grace?) and thus, that
every baptized person is regenerated, not only sacra-
mentally, but really and properly ! Hence men fancy,
that, being regenerated already when baptized, they
need no farther work.

But if this were so, then all that have been baptized
must necessarily be saved, because the promise of par-
don and salvation is made to conversion and regenera-
tion. Acts, 3 : 19. Matt. 19 : 28.

And indeed, were conversion and baptism the same,
then men would do well to carry but a certificate of

Chap. I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 9

their baptism when they died, and upon sight of this
there were no doubt of their admission into heaven.

In short, if there be no more necessary to conver-
sion, or regeneration, than to be baptized, this will fly
directly in the face of that scripture, Matt. 7 : 13, 14,
as well as multitudes of others. For, first, we shall
then no more say, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is
the way;" for if all that were baptized are saved, the
door is exceeding wide, and we shall henceforth say,
"Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth
unto life." For if this be true, thousands may go in
abreast; and we will no more teach that the righteous
are scarcely saved, or that there is need of such a stir
in taking the kingdom of heaven by violence, and striv-
ing to enter in. Surely, if the way be so easy as ma-
ny suppose, that there is little more necessary than to
be baptized and to cry, " Lord, have mercy," we need
not put ourselves to such seeking, and knocking, and
wrestling, as the word requires in order to salvation.
Secondly, if this be true, we shall no more say, "few
there be that find it;" yea, we will rather say, "few
there be that miss it." We shall no more say, that of
the "many" that are "called, but few are chosen,"
Matt. 22 : 14, and that even of the professing " Israel
but a remnant shall be saved." Rom. 9:27. If this
doctrine be true, we shall not say any more with the
disciples, " WTho then shall be saved ?" but rather,
who then shall not be saved ? Then, if a man be bap-
tized, though he be a fornicator, or arailer or covetous,
or a drunkard, yet he shall inherit the kingdom of God.
ICor. 5:11, and 6:9, 10.

But some will reply, Such as these, though they did
receive regenerating grace in baptism, are since fallen
away, and must be renewed again or else they cannot
be saved.

10 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. [Chap. I.

I answer, 1, That there is an infallible connection
between regeneration and salvation, as we have already
shown; and I long to be farther evidencing, but that it
is against designed brevity. 2. Then man must be
born again a second time, which carries a great deal of
absurdity in its face: and why may not men be twice
born in nature as well as in grace? But, 3, and above
all, this grants however the thing I contend for, that
whatever men do or pretend to receive in baptism, if
they be found afterward to be grossly ignorant, or
profane, or formal, without the power of godliness,
they "must be born again," or else be shut out of the
kingdom of God. So then they must have more to
plead for themselves than their baptismal regeneration.

Well, in this you see all are agreed, that, be it more
or less that is received in baptism, if men are evident-
ly unsanctified, they must be renewed again by a tho-
rough and powerful change, or else they cannot escape
the damnation of hell. Then K be not deceived ; God
is not mocked." Whether it be your baptism, or what-
ever else you pretend, I tell you from the living God,
that if any of you be a prayerless person, or unclean,
or malicious, or covetous, or riotous, or a scoffer, or a
lover of evil company, Prov. 13 : 20, in a word, if
you are not a holy, strict, and self-denying Christian,
you cannot be saved.

Paul, while unconverted, touching the righteousness
which is in the law, was blameless. The Pharisee
could say, "I am no extortioner, adulterer, unjust," &c.
Thou must have something more than all this to show,
or else,however thou mayest justify thyself, God will
condemn thee. I condemn not morality, but warn thee
not to rest in it: piety includes morality, as Christianity
doth humanity, and grace reason ; but we must not
divide the tables.

I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 11

II H also manifest that men may have a/:
lines?, without the power. Men may pray long, and
fast often, and hear gladly, and be very forward in the
service of God. though costly and expensive, and yet
be strangers to conversion. They must have more to

id than that they go to church, give alms, and make
use of prayer, to prove themselves sound converts.

:-/e is no outward service but a hypocrite may do it,
even to the "' giving all his goods to feed the poor, and
"dy to be burned/'
Conversion is not the mere chaining up of corrup-
lucation, human laws, or the force of incum-
bent arHiction. It is too common and easy to mistake
education for grace ; but if this were enough, who a
better man than Jehoash ? While Jehoiada his mi
lived, he was very forward in God's service, and i
upon him to repair the house oi the Lord. "2 Kings. 12 :
2. 7 : — but here was nothing more than good educai
ail this while ; for when his good tutor was taken out oi
the way. he appears to have been but a wolf chained up,
and falls into idolatry.

In short, conversion consists not in illumination or
conviction, in a superficial change or partial reforma-
tion. An apostate may be an rd man. and a
Felix tremble under conviction, and a Herod do ma
things. It is one thing to have sin alarmed

::s. and another to have it crucified by con-

ing grace. Many, because they have been trou-
bled in conscience for their sins, think irell .'
case, miserabiy ig conviction for conversi

With these Cain might have passed for a convert, who
ran up and down the world like a man distracted, under
the rage of a guilty conscience. Ot I be-

cause they have given over their riotous courses, and

12 MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. [ Chap. L

are broken off from evil company or some particular
lust, and are reduced to sobriety and civilitj , they are
now no other than real converts ; forgetting that there
is a vast difference between being sanctified and civil-
ized 5 and that many seek to enter into the kingdom of
heaven, and are not far from it, and arrive to the almost
of Christianity, and yet fall short at last. While con-
science holds the whip over them, many will pray, hear,
read, and forbear their delightful sins ; but no sooner
is the lion asleep than they are at their sins again. Who
more religious than the Jews when God's hand was
upon them : yet no sooner was the affliction over, than
they forgot God. Thou mayst have forsaken a trouble-
some sin, and have escaped the gross pollutions of the
world, and yet in all this not have changed thy carnal
nature.

You may cast lead out of the rude mass into the more
comely proportion of a plant, and then into the shape
of a beast, and thence into the form and features of a
man, yet all the while it is but lead still ; so a man may
pass through divers transmutations, from ignoranee to
knowledge, fiom profaneness to civility, thence to a
form of religion, and all this time he is but carnal and
unregenerate whilst his nature remains unchanged.

Hear then, O sinners, hear as you would live. Why
would you wilfully deceive yourselves, or build your
hopes upon the sand ? I know that he may find hard
work that goes to pluck away your hopes. It cannot but
be ungrateful to you, and truly it is not pleasing to me.
I set about it as a surgeon when about to cut off a mor-
tified limb from his well-beloved friend, which of ne-
cessity he must do, though with an aching heart. But
understand me — I am only taking down the ruinous
house, which will otherwise speedily fall of itself anJ

Chap. I.J MISTAKES ABOUT CONVERSION. 13

bury you in the ruins, that I may build it fair, strong,
and firm for ever. The hope of the wicked shall perish.
And hadst not thou better, O sinner, let the word con-
vince thee now in time, and let go thy false and self-
deluding hopes, than have death too late to open thine
eyes, and mid thyself in hell before thou art aware ? I
should be a false and faithless shepherd if I should not
tell you, that you, who have built your hopes upon no
better grounds than these before mentioned, are yet in
your sins. Let conscience speak : What is it that you
have to plead for yourselves ? Is it that you wear
Christ's livery ? that you bear his name? that you are
of the visible church ? that you have knowledge in the
points of religion, are civilized, perform religious duties,
are just in your dealings, have been troubled in con-
science for your sins ? I tell you from the Lord, these
pleas will never be accepted at God's bar ; all this,
though good in itself, will not prove you converted,
and so will not suffice to your salvation. 0 look about
you and bethink yourselves of turning speedily and
entirely. Study your own hearts ; rest not till God has
made thorough work with you ; for you must be other
men, or else you are lost men.

But if these characters be short of conversion, what
shall I say of the profane sinner? It may be he will
scarcely cast his eyes or lend his ear to this discourse ;
but if there be any such reading or within hearing, he
must know from the Lord that made him, that he is
far from the kingdom of God. May a man be true in
his dealings, and yet not be justified of God ? what then
will become of thee, 0 wretched man, whose con-
science tells thee thou art false in thy trade, and false
to thy word, and makest thy advantage by a lying
tongue? If men may be enlightened and brought

2 Alarm.

14 THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. [.Chap II

to the external performance of holy duties, and yet
go down to perdition for resting in them and sitting
down on this side of conversion, what will become
of you, O miserable families, that live without God
in the world ? and of you, O wretched sinners, with
whom God is scarcely in all your thoughts ; that are
so ignorant that you cannot, or so careless that you
will not pray ? O repent and be converted ; break ofl
your sins by righteousness ; away to Christ for pardon-
ing and renewing grace ; give up yourselves to him, to
walk with him in holiness, or you shall never see God.
O that you would take the warnings of God ! In his
name I once more admonish you : turn ye at my re-
proof. Forsake the foolish, and live. Be sober, righte-
ous, and godly. Wash your hands, ye sinners ; purify
your hearts, ye double-minded. Cease to do evil, learn
to do well. But if you will not, you must die.

CHAPTER II.
Showing positively what Conversion is.

I may not leave you with your eyes half open, like
him that saw " men as trees walking." The word is
profitable for doctrine as well as reproof. And therefore,
having thus exposed some dangerous mistakes, I would
guide you at length into the way of truth.

Conversion then, in short, lies in the thorough change
both of the heart and life. I shall briefly describe it in
its nature and causes.

1. The author is the Spirit of God, and therefore it is
called " the sanctification of the Spirit," and " the re-
newing of the Holy Ghost," yet not excluding the othej

Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 15

persons in the Trinity ; for the apostle teacheth lis to
" bless the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for that he
hath begotten us again." And Christ is said to give re-
pentance unto Israel, and is called the " everlasting Fa-
theiV' and we his seed, and the children which God
hath given him. Yet this work is principally ascribed
to the Holy Ghost, and so we are said to be " born of
the Spirit."

So then regeneration is a work of God : " We are
born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God." John, 1 : 13. If ever thou wouldst be sav-
ingly converted, thou must despair of doing it in thine
own strength. It is a resurrection from the dead, Eph.
2 : 1, a new creation, Gal. 6 : 15 ; Eph. 2 : 10, a work
of absolute omnipotence, Eph. 1 : 19. If thou hast no
more than thou hadst by thy first birth, a good nature,
a meek and chaste temper, &c. thou art a stranger to
true conversion ; this is a supernatural work.

2. The causes are efficient and meritorious. The
efficient cause is only free grace. " Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but of his mercy he
saved us," and " by the renewing of the Holy Ghost."
" Of his own will begat he us."

God finds nothing in man to excite his complacency.
Look back upon thyself, 0 Christian ! Do not thine
own clothes abhor thee ? Job, 9 : 31. How then should
holiness and pureness love thee ? Be astonished, O hea-
vens, at this ; be moved, O earth. Who but must needs
cry, grace ! grace ! Hear and blush, ye children of the
Most High — O ye unthankful generation! that free
grace is no more in your mouths, in your thoughts ; no
more adored, admired, and commended by such aa
you ! One would think you should be doing nothing
but praising and admiring God wherever you are.

16 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II

How can you forget such grace, or pass it over with a
slight and formal mention ? What but free grace could
move God to love you, unless enmity could do it, un-
less deformity could do it ? How affectionately doth
Peter lift up his hands I " Blessed be the God and Fa-
ther of our Lord Jesus, who of his abundant merc>
hath begotten us again.'5 How feelingly doth Paul
magnify the free mercy of God in it ! " God who is
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he has
loved us, hath quickened us together with Christ, By
grace ye are saved."

The meritorious cause is the mediation and inter-
cession of the blessed Jesus. He hath obtained gifts for
the rebellious, and through him it is that God worketh
in us what is well pleasing in his sight. Through him
are all spiritual blessings bestowed upon us in heavenly
things. Every convert is the fruit of his travail. He is
made sanctification to us. He sanctified himself, (that
is, set apart himself as a sacrifice,) that we may be
sanctified.

It is nothing then beyond his own love, but the me-
rit and intercession of Christ, that prevails with God
to bestow on us converting grace. If thou art a new
creature, thou knowest to whom thou owest it; to
Christ's agonies and prayers. And whither else shouldst
thou go ? If any in the world can show that for thy
heart which Christ can, let them do it. Doth Satan claim
thee ? Doth the world court thee? Doth sin sue for
thy heart 1 Why ? were these crucified for thee ? O
Christian, love and serve the Lord whilst thou nast a
being.

3. The instrument is either personal or real. The
personal is the ministry. I have begotten you in Christ
through the Gospel. Christ's ministers are they that

Chap. II. | THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. 17

are sent to open men's eyes, and to turn them to God»
Acts, 26 : 18.

O unthankful world, little do you know what you
are doing while you are slighting the messengers of
the Lord ! These are they whose business it is (under
Christ) to save you. Whom have you reproached and
blasphemed ? Against whom have you exalted your
voice, and lifted your eyes on high 1 " These are the
servants of the most high God, that show unto you the
way of salvation," and do you thus requite them, O
foolish and unwise! O sons of ingratitude! against
whom do ye sport yourselves ! These are the instru-
ments that God uses to convert and save sinners : and
do you revile your physicians, and throw your pilots
overboard ? " Father, forgive them ; for they know
not what they do."

The real instrument is the word. We are begotten
by the word of truth. This it is that enlightens the
eye ; that converts the soul, Psalm 19 : 7, 8 ; that mak-
eth wise to salvation. 2 Tim. 3 : 15. This is the in-
corruptible seed, by which we are born again. 1 Pet.
i : 23. If we are washed, it is by the word. Eph. 5 :
26. If we are sanctified, it is through the truth. John,
17 : 17.

O ye saints, how should ye love the word ! for by
this you have been converted : O ye sinners, how
should you ply the word ! for by means of this you
must be converted. You that have felt its renewing
power, make much of it while you live ; be for ever
thankful for it ; tie it about your neck ; write it upon
your hand ; lay it in your bosom. When you go, let
it lead you ; when you sleep, let it keep you ; when you
wake, let it talk with you : say with holy David, " I
will never f jrget thy precepts, for by them thou hast
2*

18 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II.

quickened me." You that are unconverted, read the
word with diligence; flock to it where powerfully
preached: pray for the coming of the Spirit in the
word; come from your knees to the sermon, and come
to your knees from the sermon. The seed doth not
prosper, because not watered by prayers and tears, nor
covered by meditation.

4. The final cause is maris salvation, and GocFs
glory. We are chosen through sanctification to salva-
tion ; called that we might be glorified ; but especially
that God might be glorified, that we should " show
forth his praise," and " be fruitful in good works." O
Christian ! do not forget the end of thy calling ; " let
thy light shine," let thy lamp burn ; let thy fruits be
good, and many, and in season; let all thy designs fall
in with God's, that he may " be magnified in thee."

5. The subject is the sinner, and that in all his parts
and powers, members and mind. Thou beginnest at
the wrong end, if thou disputest first about thine elec-
tion. Prove thy conversion, and then never doubt of
thy election : or, canst thou not yet prove it ? set upon
a present and thorough turning. Whatever God's pur-
poses be, (which are secret,) I am sure his precepts are
plain. How desperately do rebels argue ! if I am elected
I shall be saved, do what I will; if not, I shall be damn-
ed, do what I can. Perverse sinner! wilt thou begin
where thou shouldest end? Is not the word before
thee ? What saith it? " Repent and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out." " If you mortify the
deeds of the body you shall live." " Believe and be
saved." What can be plainer ? Do not stand still dis-
puting about thine election, but set to repenting and
believing; cry to God for converting grace. Revealed
things belong to thee ; in these busy thyself. It is just

Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 19

(as one well said) that they who will not feed on the
plain food of the word should be choked with the
bones. Whatever God's purposes be, I am sure his
promises are true; whatever the decrees of heaven be
I am sure that if I repent and believe, I shall be saved
and that if I repent not, I shall be damned. Is not
here plain ground for thee ? and wilt thou yet run
upon the rocks ?

More particularly, this change of conversion passes
throughout the whole man. A carnal person may
have some shreds of good morality, but he is never
good throughout the whole body of holiness and Chris-
tianity. Conversion is not repairing of the old build
ing ; but it takes all down, and erects a new structure .
it is not the putting in a patch of holiness; but with
the true convert holiness is woven into all his powers,
principles, arifi practice. The sincere Christian is quite
a new fabric, from the foundation to the top-stone. He
is a new man, a new creature. All things are become
new. Conversion is a deep work, a heart-work. It goes
throughout with men, throughout the mind, through-
out the members, throughout the motions of the
whole life.

I. Throughout the mind. It makes a universal
change within.

1. It turns the balance of the judgment ; so that God
and his glory do weigh down all carnal and worldly
interests. It opens the eye of the mind, and makes the
scales of its native ignorance to fall off, and turns men
from darkness to light. The man that before saw no
danger in his condition, now concludes himself lost,
and for ever undone, except renewed by the power 01

20 THE NATURE CF CONVERSION. [Chap. II.

grace. He that formerly thought there was little hurt
in sin, now comes to see it to be the chief of evils ; he
sees the unreasonableness, the unrighteousness, the de-
formity and filthiness of sin ; so that he is affrighted
with it, loathes it, dreads it, flees from it, and even ab-
hors himself for it. He that could see little sin in him-
self, and could find no matter for confession, now sees
the rottenness of his heart, the desperate and deep pol-
lution of his whole nature ; he cries, Unclean, unclean:
Lord; purge me with hyssop, wash me thoroughly,
create in me a clean heart. He sees himself altogether
filthy, corrupt, both root and tree ; he writes unclean
upon all his parts, and powers, and performances; he
discovers the filthy corners that he was never aware of,
and sees the blasphemy, and theft, and murder, and
adultery, that is in his heart, which before he was ig-
norant of.

Heretofore he saw no form nor comeliness in Christ,
nor beauty, that he should desire him ; but now he
finds the hidden treasure, and will sell all to buy this
field. Christ is the pearl he seeks.

Now, according to this new light, the man is of an-
other mind, another judgment, than he was before.
Now God is all with him, he hath none in heaven, nor
in earth like him ; he prefers him truly before all the
world; his favor is his life, the light of his counte-
nance is more than corn, or wine, and oil. A hypo-
crite may come to yield a general assent to this, that
God is the chief good ; yea, the wiser heathens (some
few of them) have at last stumbled upon this: but
there is a difference between the absolute and compa-
rative judgment of the understanding. No hypocrite
comes so far as to look upon God as the most desirable
and suitable good to him, and thereupon to acquiesce

Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 21

in him. This is the convert's voice : " The Lord is my
portion, saith my soul. Whom have I in heaven but
thee 1 and there is none upon earth that I desire beside
thee. God is the strength of my heart, and my portion
for ever."

2. It turns the bias of the will both as to means and
end. The intentions of the will are altered. Now the
man hath new ends and designs ; now he intends God
above all, and desires and designs nothing in all the
world so much as that Christ may be magnified in him.
He counts himself more happy in this than in all that
the earth could yield, that he may be serviceable to
Christ, and bring him glory. This is the mark he
aims at, that the name of Jesus may be great in the
world.

Reader, dost thou view this, and never ask thyself
whether it be thus with thee ? Pause a while, and
breathe on this great concern.

The choice is also changed. He pitcheth upon God
as his blessedness, and upon Christ and holiness as
means to bring him to God. He chooseth Jesus for
his Lord. He is not merely forced to Christ by the
storm, nor doth he take Christ for bare necessity, but
he comes freely; he deliberately resolves that Christ
is his best choice, and would rather have him than all
the good of this world, might he enjoy it while he
would. Again, he takes holiness for his path ; he does
not of mere necessity submit to it, but he likes and
loves it: "/have chosen the way of thy precepts/1
He takes God's testimonies, not as his bondage, but as
his heritage ; yea, heritage for ever. He counts them
not his burden, but his bliss; not his cords, but his
cordials. He does not only bear, but takes up Christ's
yoke : he takes not holiness as the stomach does the

22 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II,

loathed potion, (which a man will take rather than
die,) but as the hungry doth his beloved food. No
time passeth so sweetly with him (when he is him-
self) as that he spends in the exercises of holiness.
These are both his aliment and element, the desire of
his eyes and the joy of his heart. Put thy conscience
to it as thou goest, whether thou art the man. O hap-
py man, if this be thy case! But see thou be impartial
in the decision.

3. It turns the bent of the affections. These run all
in a new channel. Christ is his hope. This is his
prize. Here his eye is : here his heart. He is con-
tented to cast all overboard, (as the merchant in the
storm ready to perish,) so he may but keep this jewel.

The first of his desires is not after gold, but grace.
He hungers after it, he seeks it as silver, he digs for it
as for hid treasure ; he had rather be gracious than be
great ; he had rather be the holiest man on earth than
the most learned, the most famous, the most prosper-
ous. While carnal, he said, 0 if I were but in great
esteem, rolling in wealth, and swimming in pleasure I
if my debts were paid, and I and mine provided for,
then I were a happy man ! but now the tone is changed.
O ! saith the convert, if I had but my corruptions sub-
dued, if I had such measures of grace, such fellowship
with God, though I were poor and despised 1 should
not care, I should account myself a blessed man. Read-
er, is this the language of thy soul?

His joys are changed. He rejoiceth in the ways oi
God's testimonies as much as in all riches. He de-
lights in the law of the Lord, wherein once he had
little savor. He hath no such joy as in the thoughts
of Christ, the fruition of his company, the prosperity
of his people.

Chap. 11. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 23

His cares are quite altered. He was once set for
the world; now his cry is, "What shall I do to be
saved?" His great solicitude is to secure his soul.
O how would he bless you if you qould but put him
out of doubt of this !

His fears, however, are not so much of suffering as
of sinning. Once he was afraid of nothing so much
as the loss of his estate or reputation; nothing sound-
ed so terrible to him as pain, or poverty, or disgrace ;
now these are little to him, in comparison of God's
dishonor or displeasure. How warily doth he walk,
lest he should tread upon a snare ! He feareth alway ;
he hath his eye upon his heart, and is ever watchful
lest he should be overtaken with sin. No thought in
the world would pain him so much as to think of part-
ing with Christ.

His love runs a new course. My love was crucified,
(saith Ignatius,) that is, my Christ. This is my be-
loved, saith the spouse. Cant. 5: 16.

How doth Augustine often pour his love upon Christ !
O "eternal blessedness!" &c. He can find no words
sweet enough. "Let me see thee, O light of mine
eyes. Come, O thou joy of my spirit. Let me behold
thee, 0 life of my soul. Appear unto me, O my great
delight, my sweet comfort: 0 my God, my life, and
the whole glory of my soul. Let me find thee, O de-
sire of my heart. Let me hold thee, O love of my soul.
Let me embrace thee, O heavenly bridegroom. Let
me possess thee!"

His sorrows have now a new vent. The view of his
sins, the sight of Christ crucified, that could scarcely
stir him before, now how much do they affect his heart !

His hatred boils, his anger burns against sin. He
bath no patience with himself: he calls himself fool

24 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II

and beast, and thinks any name too good for himself,
when his indignation is stirred up against sin. Psalm
73 : 22. Prov. 30 : 2. He could once delight in it with
much pleasure; now he loathes the thought of return-
ing to it.

Commune then with thine own heart, and attend the
general current of thine affections, whether they be
toward God in Christ above all other concernments.
Indeed, sudden and strong motions of the affections
are oft-times found in hypocrites, especially where the
natural temperament is warm. And, contrariwise, the
sanctified themselves are many times without sensible
stirring of the affections, where the temper is more
slow, dry, and dull. The great inquiry is, whether the
judgment and will be steadily determined for God
above all other good, real or apparent ; if so, and if the
affections do sincerely follow their choice and conduct,
though it be not so strongly and sensibly as is to be
desired, there is no doubt but the change is saving.

II. Throughout the members. Those that were be-
fore the instruments of sin, are now become the holy
utensils of Christ's living kingdom. He that before
dishonored his body, now possesses his vessel in sanc-
tification and honor, in temperance, chastity, and so-
briety, and dedicates it to the Lord.

Thd eye that was once a wandering eye, a wanton
eye, a haughty, a covetous eye, is now employed (as
Mary's) in weeping over its sins, in beholding God in
his works, in reading his word, or in looking for ob-
jects of mercy and opportunities for his service.

The ear that was once open to Satan's call, is now
open to the voice of Christ's house, and to his disci-
pline. It saith. " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.'1

Chap. II.] THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 25

It waits for his words as the rain, and relishes them
more than the appointed food, " more than the honey
and the honey-comb."

The head that was the shop of worldly designs, is
now filled with other matters, and set on the study of
God's will, and the man employs his head not so much
about his gain as about his duty. The thoughts and
cares that fill his head are, principally, how he may
please God and flee sin.

His heart that was filled with filthy lusts, is now be-
come an altar of incense, where the fire of divine love
is ever kept burning, and whence the daily sacrifices
of prayer and praise, and the sweet incense of holy de-
sires, ejaculations, and prayers, are continually as-
cending.

The mouth is become a well of life, his tongue as
choice silver, and his lips feed many ; now the salt of
grace has seasoned his speech, has eaten cut the cor-
ruption, Col. 4 : 6, and cleansed the mouth from its
filthy communication, flattery, boasting, and backbiting,
that once came like flashes that proceeded from the
hell that was in the heart. The throat, that was once
an open sepulchre, now sends forth the sweet breath of
prayer and holy discourses, and the man speaks in ano-
ther tongue, even the language of Canaan, and is never
so well as when talking of God and Christ, and the
matters of another world. His mouth bringeth wisdom ;
his tongue is become the silver trumpet of his Maker's
praise, his glory, and the best member that he hath.

Now here you will find the hypocrite sadly deficient.
He speaks (it may be) like an angel, but he hath a co-
vetous eye, or the gain of unrighteousness in his hand ;
or the hand is white, but his heart is full of rottenness,
Matt 23 : 27, full of un mortified cares, a very oven of

3 Alarum

28 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. LChap. II.

lust, a shop of pride, the seat of malice. It may be,
with Nebuchadnezzar's image, he hath a golden head,
a great deal of knowledge ; but he hath feet of clay,
his affections are worldly, he minds earthly things, and
his way and walk are sensual and carnal.

III. Throughout the life and practice, the new man
takes a new course. His " conversation is in heaven."
No sooner doth Christ call by effectual grace, but he
straightway becomes a " follower of him." When God
hath given the new heart, and written his law in his
mind, he forthwith walks in his statutes, and keeps his
judgments.

Though sin may dwell (truly a wearisome and un-
welcome guest) in him, yet it hath " no more domi-
nion over him." " He hath his fruit unto holiness,"
and though he makes many a blot, yet the law of life
and Jesus is what he looks at as his copy, and he hath
an unfeigned respect to all God's commandments,
making conscience even of every duty. His very infir-
mities, which he cannot help though he would, are his
soul's burden, and are like the dust in a man's eye,
which though but little, yet is not a little troublesome.
(0 man ! dost thou read this and never turn in upon
thy soul by self-examination?) The sincere convert
is not one man at the place of worship and another at
home ; he is not a saint on his knees, and a cheat in
his shop ; he will not tithe mint and cummin, and ne-
glect mercy and judgment, and the weighty matters
of the law ; he doth not pretend to piety and neglect
morality ; but he turns from all his sins, and keeps all
God's statutes, though not perfectly, (except in desire
and endeavor,) yet sincerely; not allowing himself in
the breach of any. Now he delights in the word and

Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 27

sets himself to prayer, and opens his hand and draws
out his soul to the hungry. " He breaketh off his sins
by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy
to the poor," and hath " a good conscience, willing in
all things to live honestly," and to keep it without of-
fence toward God and man.

Here again you mid the unsoundness of many pro-
fessors who consider themselves good Christians ; they
are partial in the law, and take up with the cheap and
easy duties of religion, but go not through with the
work. It may be you find them exact in their wwds,
punctual in their dealings, but then they do not exer-
cise themselves unto godliness ; and as for examining
themselves and governing their hearts, to this they are
strangers. You may see them duly at the church ; but
follow them to their families, and there you shall see
little but the world minded ; or if they have family
duties, follow them to their closets, and there you shall
find their souls are little looked after. It may be they
seem otherwise religious, but bridle not their tongues,
and so " all their religion is vain." It may be they
come up to closet and family prayer ; but follow them
to their shops, and there you find them in the habit of
lying, or some covert and fashionable way of deceit.
Thus the hypocrite goes not throughout in the course
of his obedience.

The objects from which we turn in conversion are,
sin, Satan, the world, and our own righteousness.

1. Sin. When a man is converted, he is for ever at
enmity with sin ; yea, with all sin, but most of all with
his own sins, and especially with his bosom sin. Sin
Is now the object of his indignation. His sins swell his

28 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. | Chap. II.

sorrows. It is sin that pierces him and wounds him ,
he feels it like a thorn in his side, like a prick in hia
eyes : he groans and struggles under it, and not for
mally, but feelingly cries out, " O wretched man !" He
is not impatient of any burden so much as of his sin.
If God should give him his choice, he would choose
any affliction so he might be rid of sin ; he feels it like
the cutting gravel in his shoes, pricking and paining
him as he goes.

Before conversion, he had light thoughts of sin ; he
cherished it in his bosom, as Uriah his lamb ; he nou-
rished it up, and it grew up together with him ; it did
eat, as it were, of his own meat, and drank of his own
cup> and lay in his bosom, and was to him as a daugh-
ter. But when God opens his eyes by conversion, he
throws it away with abhorrence, as a man would a
loathsome toad, which in the dark he had hugged fast
in his bosom, and thought it had been some pretty and
harmless bird. When a man is savingly changed, he
is deeply convinced not only of the danger but the de •
filement of sin : and O how earnest is he with God to
be purified ! he loathes himself for his sins. He runs to
Christ, and casts himself into the fountain set open for
sin and for uncleanness. If he fall, he has no rest till
he flees to the word, and washes in the infinite foun-
tain, laboring to cleanse himself from all filthiness
both of flesh and spirit : he abhors his once beloved
sin, as a cleanly nature doth the mire wherein he sees
the swine delight.

The sound convert is heartily engaged against sin ;
he struggles with it, he wars against it ; he is too often
foiled, but he will never yield the cause, nor lay down
the weapons, while he hath breath in his body; he will
make no peace ; he will give no quarter. He can for-

Chap. II. | THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 29

give his other enemies ; he can pity them, and pray for
them ; but here he is implacable, here he is set upon
extermination; he hunteth as it were for the pre-
cious life ; his eyes shall not pity, his hand shall not
spare, though it be a right hand or a right eye. Be it
a gainful sin, most delightful to his nature or the sup-
port of his esteem with worldly friends, yet he will ra-
ther throw his gain down the kennel, see his credit
fall, or the flower of pleasure wither in his hand, than
he will allow himself in any known way of sin. He
will grant no indulgence, he will give no toleration ;
he draws upon sin wherever he meets it, and frowns
upon it with this unwelcome salute, "Havel found
thee, 0 mine enemy ?"

Reader, hath conscience been at work while thou
hast been looking over these lines? Hast thou pon-
dered these things in thy heart ? Hast thou searched
the book within, to see if these things be so? If not,
read it again, and make thy conscience speak, whether
or not it be thus with thee.

Hast thou crucified thy flesh with its affections and
lusts ? and not only confessed, but forsaken thy sins,
all sin in thy fervent desires, and the ordinary practice
of every deliberate and wilful sin in thy life? If not,
thou art yet unconverted. Doth not conscience fly in
thy face as thou readest, and tell thee that thou livest
in a way of lying for thy advantage; that thou usest
deceit in thy calling; that there is some way of secret
wantonness that thou livest in? why then, do not de-
ceive thyself; thou art in the gall of bitterness and the
bond of iniquity.

Doth not thy unbridled tongue, thy indulgence of
appetite, thy wicked company, thy neglect of prayer,
of reading and hearing the word, now witness against
3*

80 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [_Chap. II,

thee, and say, "We are thy works, and we will follow
thee?" Or, if I have not hit thee right, doth not the
monitor within tell thee, there is such or such a way
that thou knowest to be evil, that yet for some carnal
respect thou dost tolerate thyself in ? If this be thy
case, thou art to this day unregenerate, and must be
changed or condemned.

2. Satan. Conversion binds^the strong man, spoils
his armor, casts out his goods, turns men from the
power of Satan unto God. Before, the devil could no
sooner hold up his finger to the sinner to call him to
his wicked company, sinful games, and filthy delights,
but presently he followed, like an ox to the slaughter,
and a fool to the correction of the stocks ; as the bird
that hasteth to the prey, and knoweth not that it is for
his life. No sooner could Satan bid him lie, but pre-
sently he had it on his tongue. No sooner could Satan
offer a wanton object, but he was stung with lust. If
the devil says, "Away with these family duties," be
sure they shall be rarely enough performed in his
house. If the devil says, "Away wTith this strictness,
thispreciseness," he will keep far enough from it: if
he tells him, "There is no need of these closet-duties,"
lie shall go from day to day and scarcely perform
them. But since he is converted he serves another
Master, and takes quite another course : he goes and
comes at Christ's bidding. Satan may sometimes catch
his foot in a trap, but he will no longer be a willing
captive; he watches against the snares and baits of
Satan, and studies to be acquainted with his devices;
he is very suspicious of his plots, and is very jealous
in what comes across him, lest Satan should have some
design upon him; he "wrestles against principalities
and powers ; ' he entertains the messenger of Satan

Chap. II. J THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. 31

as men do the messenger of death ; he keeps his eye
upon his enemy, and watches in his duties, lest Satan
should put in his foot.

3. The World. Before a man has lively faith, he is
overcome of the world; either he bows down to mam-
mon, or idolizes his reputation, or is a "lover of plea-
sure more than a lover of God." Here is the root of
man's misery by the fall; he is turned aside to the
creature, and gives that esteem, confidence, and affec-
tion to the creature, that is due to God alone.

O miserable man, what a deformed monster hath sin
made thee! God made thee "little lower than the an-
gels;5' sin, little better than the devils; a monster that
hath his head and heart where his feet should be.
The world that was formed to serve thee, is come to
rule thee,— the deceitful harlot hath bewitched thee
with her enchantments, and made thee bow down and
serve her.

But converting grace sets all in order again, and
puts God on the throne, and the world at his footstool;
Christ in the heart, and the world under the feet. So
Paul, "I am crucified to the world, and the world to me."
Before this change, all the cry was, "Who will show
us any worldly good?" but now he prays, "Lord, lift
thou up the light of thy countenance upon me," and
take the corn and wine whoso will. Before, his heart's
delight and content were in the world; then the song
was, "Soul, take thy ease, eat, drink, and be merry;
thou hast much goods laid up for many years;" but
now all this is withered, and there is no comeliness,
that we should desire it; and he tunes up with the
sweet Psalmist of Israel: "The Lord is the portion of
my inheritance; the lines are fallen to me in a fair
place, and I have a goodly heritage." He blesseth him'

32 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. IL

self, and boasteth himself in God. Nothing else can
give him content. He hath written vanity and vexa-
tion upon all his worldly enjoyments, and loss and
dung upon all human excellencies. He hath life and
immortality now in pursuit. He pants for grace and
glory, and hath a crown incorruptible in view. His
heart is set in him to seek the Lord. He first seeks
the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof,
and religion is no longer a matter by-the-by with him,
but his main care.

Before, the world had the sway with him ; he would
do more for gain than godliness, more to please his
friend, or his flesh, than the God that made him ; and
God must stand by till the world was first served.
But now all must stand by ; he hates father and mo-
ther, and life, and all, in comparison of Christ. Well
then, pause a little, and look within. Doth not this
nearly concern thee ? Thou pretendest for Christ, but
does not the world sway thee ? Dost thou not take
more real delight and content in the world than in him ?
Bost thou not find thyself better at ease when the
world goes to thy mind, and thou art compassed with
carnal delights, than when retired to prayer and medi-
tation in thy closet, or attending upon God's word and
worship ? No surer evidence of an unconverted state,
than to have the things of the world uppermost in our
aim, love, and estimation.

With the sound convert, Christ has the supremacy.
How dear is his name to him! How precious is his
favor! The name of Jesus is engraven on his heart,
Gal. 4 : 19, and lies as a bundle of myrrh between his
breasts. Cant. 1 : 13, 14. Honor is but air, and laugh-
ter is but madness, and mammon is fallen like dagon
before the ark, with hands and head broken off on the

Chap. II. J THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. 83

threshold, when once Christ is savingly revealed. Here
is the pearl of great price to the true convert ; here is
his treasure, here is his hope. This is his glory ; my
beloved is mine> and I am his. O ! it is sweeter to him
to be able to say> Christ is mine, than if he could say,
the kingdom is mine, the Indies are mine.

4. Our own righteousness. Before conversion, man
seeks to cover himself with his own fig-leaves, and to
make himself whole with his own duties. He is apt
to trust in himself, and set up his own righteousness,
and to reckon his counters for gold, and not submit
to the righteousness of God. But conversion changes
his mind ; now he casts away his filthy rags, and
counts his own righteousness as a filthy cloth. He
casts it off, as a man would the dirty tatters of a beg-
gar. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit, complains
of and condemns himself, and all his inventory is,
"poor, and miserable, and wretched, and blind, and
naked." He sees a world of iniquity in his holy things,
and calls his once idolized righteousness but filth and
loss ; and would not for a thousand worlds be found
m it. Now he begins to set a high price upon Christ's
righteousness : he sees the need of Christ in every duty,
to justify his person, and sanctify his performances ;
lie cannot live without him : he cannot pray without
him. Christ must go with hi m, or else he cannot come
into the presence of God ; he leans upon Christ, and
so bows himself in the house of his God ; he sets him-
self down for a lost undone man without him ; his life
is hid in Christ, as the root of a tree spreads in the
earth for stability and nutriment. Before, the news of
Christ was a stale and tasteless thing, but now how
sweet is Christ ! Augustine could not relish his before
so much admired Cicero, because he could not find in

34 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. | Chap. II

his writing the name of Christ! How emphatically
cries he, " O most sweet, most loving, most kind, mosi
dear, most precious, most desired, most lovely, most
fair !" &c. Meditat. c. 37, all in a breath, when he speaks
of and to his Christ. In a word, the voice of the con-
vert is with the martyr, "None but Christ."

The ultimate end to which we turn in conversion is,
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; whom the true
convert takes as his all-sufficient and eternal blessed-
ness. A man is never truly sanctified till his very
heart be in truth set upon God above all things, as his
portion and chief good. These are the natural breath-
ings of a believer's heart: "Thou art my portion."
"My soul shall make her boast in the Lord." "My
expectation is from him ; he only is my rock and my
salvation ; he is my defence ; in God is my salvation
and glory ; the rock of my strength, and my refuge is
in God."

Would you put it to an issue, whether you be con-
verted or not ? Now let thy soul and all that is within
thee attend.

Hast thou taken God for thy happiness ? Where doth
the content of thy heart lie ? Whence doth ihy choicest
comfort come in ? Come then, and with Abraham lift
up thine eyes eastward, and westward, and northward,
and southward, and cast about thee, what is it that
thou wouldst have in heaven or on earth to make theo
happy 1 If God should give thee thy choice, as he did
to Solomon, or should say to thee, as Ahasuerus to
Esther, " What is thy petition, and what is thy request,
and it shall be granted thee ?" what wouldst thou ask?
Go into the gardens of pleasure, and gather all the fra-
grant flowers thence : would these content thee ? Go

Chap. II. J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 35

to the treasures of Mammon j suppose thou mightest
lade thyself as thou wouldst from hence. Go to the
towers, to the trophies of honor ; what thinkest thou
of being a man of renown, and having a name like the
name of the great men of the earth ? Would any of
this, all this suffice thee, and make thee count thyself
happy 1 If so, then certainly thou art carnal and un-
converted. If not, go farther ; wade into the divine ex-
cellences, the store of his mercies, the hiding of his pow-
er, the depths unfathomable of his all-sufficiency. Doth
this suit thee best and please thee most ? Dost thou
say, " It is good to be here" — " Here will I pitch, here
will I live and die ?" Wilt thou let all the world go ra-
ther than this ? Then it is well between God and thee :
happy art thou, O man — happy art thou that ever thou
wast born. If a God can make thee happy, thou must
be happy ; for thou hast avouched the Lord to be thy
God. Dost thou say to Christ as he to us, " Thy Fa-
ther shall be my Father, and thy God my God ?" Here
is the turning point ; an unsound professor never takes
up his rest in God, but converting grace does the work,
and so cures the fatal misery of the fall, by turning the
heart from its idol to the living God. Now, says the
soul, " Lord, whither shall I go ? Thou hast the words
of eternal life." Here he centres, here he settles. It
is the entrance of heaven to him ; he sees his interest
in God. When he discovers this, he saith, " Return
unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt boun-
tifully with thee." And he is even ready to breathe out
Simeon's song, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant de-
part in peace;" and saith with Jacob, when his old heart
revived at the welcome tidings, " It is enough." When
he sees he hath a God in covenant to go to, " this is all
his salvation and all his desire."

36 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. | Chap If,

Is this thy case ? hast thou experienced this ? Why
then, " blessed art thou of the Lord ;" God hath been at
work with thee ; he hath laid hold on thy heart by the
power of converting grace, or else thou couldst never
have done this.

God effects this work through Christ, the only Me-
diator between God and man. 1 Tim. 2 : 5. His work
is to bring us to God. 1 Pet. 3 : 18. He is the way to
the Father, John, 14 : 6, the only plank on which we
may escape, the only door by which we may enter.
John, 10 : 9. Conversion brings over the soul to Christ
to accept him as the only means of life, as the only
way, the only name given under heaven. He looks not
for salvation in any other but him ; he throws himself
on Christ alone, as one that would cast himself wit h
spread arms upon the sea.

" Here (saith the convinced sinner) I will venture 5
and if I perish, I perish 5 if I die, I will die here. But,
Lord, suffer me not to perish under the eye of thy
mercy. Entreat me not to leave thee, or to turn away
from following after thee." Ruth, 1 : 16. " Here I will
throw myself, if thou kill me." " I will not go from
thy door."

Thus the poor soul doth venture on Christ and re-
solutely adhere to him. Before conversion, the man
made light of Christ, minded his farm, friends, mer-
chandise, more than Christ ; now Christ is to hwn as
his necessary food, his daily bread, the life of his heart,
the staff of his life. His great desire is, that Christ
may be magnified in him. His heart once said, as they
to the spouse, " What is thy beloved more than ano-
ther?" Cant. 5:9. He found more sweetness in his
merry company, wicked games, earthly delights, than
in Christ. He took religion for a fancy, and the talk

Chap. II -J THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. 37

of great enjoyments for an idle dream ; but now to him
to live is Christ. He sets light by all that he accounted
precious, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.

All of Christ is accepted by the sincere convert : he
loves not only the wages but the work of Christ ; not
only the benefits but the burden of Christ; he is will-
ing not only to tread out the corn, but to draw under
the yoke ; he takes up the commands of Christ, yeaj
and cross of Christ.

The unsound closeth by halves with Christ ; he is all
for the salvation of Christ, but he is not for sanctinca-
tion ; he divides the offices and benefits of Christ. This
is an error in the foundation. Whoso loveth life, let
him beware here; it is an undoing mistake, of which
you have been often warned, and yet none more com-
mon. Jesus is a sweet name ; but men " love not the
Lord Jesus in sincerity." They will not have him as
God offers, " to be a Prince and a Savior." They di-
vide what God has joined, the king and the priest : yea,
they will not accept the salvation of Christ as he in-
tends it ; they divide it here. Every man's vote is for
salvation from suffering ; but they desire not to be saved
from sinning; they would have their lives saved, but
withal would have their lusts. Yea, many divide here
again ; they would be content to have some of their
sins destroyed, but they cannot leave the lap of Delilah,
or divorce the beloved Herodias : they cannot be cruel
to the right eye or right hand : the Lord must pardon
them in this thing. 0 be carefully scrupulous here:
your souls depend upon it. The sound convert takes
a whole Christ, and takes him for all intents and pur-
poses, without exceptions, without limitations, without
reserve. He is willing to have Christ upon any terms;
he is willing to have the dominion of Christ, as well as

4 Alarm.

88 THE NATURE OF CONVERSION. [Chap. U

deliverance by Christ; he saith, with Paul, "Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do ?" Any thing, Lord.
He sends the blank to Christ, to set down his own
conditions.

The heart that was once set against the laws, ordi-
nances, and ways of Christ, and could not endure the
strictness of these bonds, the severity of these ways,
now falls in with them, and chooses them as its rule
and guide for ever.

Four things, I observe, God doth work in every
sound convert, with reference to the laws and ways of
Christ; by which you may come to know your state,
if you will be faithful to your own souls, and therefore
keep your eyes upon your hearts as you go along.

1. The judgment is brought to approve of them, and
subscribe to them, as most righteous and most reason-
able. The mind is brought to like the ways of God;
and the corrupt prejudices that were once against them,
as unreasonable and intolerable, are now removed.
The understanding assents to them all, as holy, just,
and good. Rom. 7 : 12. How is David taken up with
the excellences of God's laws ! how doth he expatiate
on their praises, both from their inherent qualities and
admirable effects ! Psalm 19 : 8, 9, 10, &c.

There is a twofold judgment of the understanding.
The absolute judgment is, when a man thinks such a
course best in the general, but not for him, or not under
his present circumstances. Now, a godly man's judg-
ment is for the ways of God, and that not only the ab-
solute, but comparative judgment ; he thinks them not
only the best in general, but best for him : he looks
upon the rules of religion not only as tolerable, but de-

Chap. II. | THE NATT7RE OF CONVERSION. 39

sirable; yea, more desirable than gold, fine gold; yea,
much fine gold.

His judgment is fully determined that it is best to
be holy, that it is best to be strict, that it is in itself
the most eligible course, and that it is for him the wisest
and most rational and desirable choice. Hear the godly
man's judgment : " I know, O Lord, that thy judg-
ments are right ; I love thy commandments above gold,
yea, above fine gold ; I esteem all thy precepts con-
cerning all things to be right ; and I hate every false
way." Mark, he approves of all that God requires, and
disallows of all that he forbids. " Righteous, O Lord,
and upright are thy judgments. Thy testimonies that
thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.
Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one
of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." See
how readily and fully he subscribes ; he declares his
assent and consent to it, and all and every thing therein
contained.

2. The desire of the heart is to know the whole mind
of Christ. He would not have one sin undiscovered,
nor be ignorant of one duty required. It is the natural
and earnest breathing of a sanctified heart: " Lord, if
there be any way of wickedness in me, do thou dis-
cover it. What I know not, teach thou me: and if I
have done iniquity, I will do it no more." The unsound
is willingly ignorant, loves not to come to the light.
He is willing to keep such or such a sin, and therefore
is loth to know it to be a sin, and will not let in the
light at that window. Now the gracious heart is will-
ing to know the whole latitude and compass of his
Maker's law. He receives with all acceptation the
word which convinceth him of any duty that he knew
not, or minded not before, or which discovereth any
sin that lay hid before.

40 THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. [Chap. II

3. The free and decided choice of the will is for the

ways of Christ, before all the pleasures of sin and pros-
perities of the world. His consent is not extorted by
some extremity of anguish, nor is it only a sudden and
hasty resolve, but he is deliberately purposed, and
comes off freely to the choice. True, the flesh will
rebel, yet the prevailing part of his will is for Christ's
laws and government; so that he takes them not up as
his toil or burden, but his bliss. While the unsancti-
fled goes in Christ's ways as in chains and fetters, he
does it heartily, and counts Christ's laws his liberty.
He delights in the beauties of holiness, and has this in-
separable mark, " That he had rather (if he might have
his choice) live a strict and holy life, than the most
prosperous and flourishing mere worldly life." " There
went with Saul a band of men whose hearts God had
touched." When God toucheth the hearts o,f his chosen,
they presently follow Christ, and (though drawn) do
freely run after him, and willingly devote themselves
to the service of the Lord, seeking him with then
whole desire. Fear hath its use ; but this is not the
main spring of motion with a sanctified heart. Christ
keeps not his subjects by force, but is king of a willing
people. They are, through his grace, freely devoted
to his service ; they serve out of choice, not as slaves,
but as the son or spouse, from a spring of love and a
loyal mind. In a word, the laws of Christ are the con*
vert's love, delight, and continual study.

4. The bent of his course is directed to keep God's
statutes. It is the daily care of his life to walk with
God. He seeks great things, he hath noble designs,
though he fall too short. He aims at nothing less than
perfection : he desires it, he reaches after it ; he would
not rest in any degree of grace, till he were quite rid
of sin, and had perfect holiness.

Chap. II. J THE NATURE OP CONVERSION. 4J

Here the hypocrite's rottenness may be discovered.
He desires holiness (as one well said) only as a bridge
to heaven, and inquires earnestly what is the least that
will serve his turn ; and if he can get but so much as
may bring him to heaven ; this is all he cares for. But
the sound convert desires holiness for holiness' sake,
and not merely for heaven's sake. He would not be
satisfied with so much as might save him from hell,
but desires the highest degree : yet desires are not
enough. What is thy way and thy course? Is holi-
ness thy pursuit, and religion thy business? If nol,
thou art short of sound conversion.

Application. — And is this that we have described,
the conversion that is of absolute necessity to salva-
tion ? Then be informed, That strait is the gate and
narrow the way that leadeth unto life — that there are
but few that find it — that there is need of a divine
power savingly to convert a sinner to Jesus Christ.

Again, Then be exhorted, O man, to turn in upon
thine own self. What saith conscience ? Doth it not
begin to bite ? Doth it not pierce thee as thou goest ?
Is this thy judgment, and this thy choice, and this thy
way, that we have described ? If so, then it is well.
But doth not thy heart condemn thee, and tell thee
there is such a sin thou livest in against thy conscience ?
Doth it not tell thee there is such and such a secret
way of wickedness that thou makest no account of?
such or such a duty that thou makest no conscience of?

Doth not conscience carry thee to thy closet, and
tell thee how seldom prayer and reading are performed
there * Doth it not carry thee to thy family, and show
thee the charge of God, and the souls of thy children
and servants, that are neglected there ? Doth not con-
science lead thee to thy shop, thy trade, and tell thee
4*

42 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap, fit,

of some iniquity there? Doth it not carry thee to the
dram-shop, or the resort of idleness, and blame thee
for the loose company thou keepest there, the precious
time thou misspendest there, for the talents which
thou wastest there, for thy gaming, and thy drinking?
&c. Doth it not carry thee into thy secret chamber,
and read there thy condemnation ?

O conscience ! do thy duty : in the name of the liv-
ing God, I command thee, discharge thine office ; lay
hold upon this sinner, fall upon him, arrest him, ap-
prehend him, undeceive him. What ! wilt thou flatter
and sooth him while he lives in his sins? Awake, O
conscience! what meanest thou, O sleeper? What!
hast thou never a reproof in thy mouth ? What ! shali
this soul die in his careless neglect of God and of eter-
nity, and thou altogether hold thy peace? What ! shall
he go on still in his trespasses, and yet have peace?
Oh ! rouse up thyself, and do thy work. Now let the
preacher in thy bosom speak : cry aloud, and spare
not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet: let not the blood
of his soul be required at thy hands.

CHAPTER III.

Of the Necessity of Conversion*

It may be you are ready to say, What meaneth this
stir ? and are apt to wonder why I follow you with such
earnestness, slill ringing one lesson in your ears, that
"you should repent, and be converted." But I must
say to you, as Ruth to Naomi, " Entreat me not to leave
lhee, or to return from following after thee." Were it

Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 43

a matter of indifference — might you be saved as you
are — I would gladly let you alone: but would you
not have me solicitous for you, when I see you rea-
dy to perish? As the Lord liveth, before whom I
am, I have not the least hope to see one of your faces
in heaven, except you be converted. I utterly despair
of your salvation, except you will be prevailed with to
turn thoroughly, and give up yourselves to God in ho-
liness and newness of life. Hath God said, " Except
a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of
God ?" John, 3:3; and yet do you wonder why your
ministers so earnestly labor for you? Think it not
strange that I am earnest with you to follow after ho-
liness, and long to see the image of God upon you.
Never did any, nor shall any, enter into heaven by any
other way but this. The conversion described is not
a high attainment of some eminent Christians, but
every soul that is saved passeth this change.

It was a saying of the noble Roman, when he was
hasting with corn to the city in the famine, and the
mariners were loth to set sail in foul weather, It is ne-
cessary for us to sail — it is not necessary for us to live.
What is it that thou dost count necessary? Is thy
bread necessary? Is thy breath necessary? Then thy
conversion is much more necessary. Indeed, this is
the one thing necessary. Thine estate is not necessary ;
thou mayest sell all for the pearl of great price, and
yet be a gainer by the purchase. Thy life is not ne-
cessary ; thou mayest part with it for Christ, to infinite
advantage. Thy reputation is not necessary; thou
mayest be reproached for the name of Christ, and yet
be happy ; yea, much more happy in reproach than in
repute. But thy conversion is necessary; thy salva-
tion depends upon it ; and is it not needful, in so im-

44 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. II!.

portant a case, to look about thee? On this one point
depends thy making or marring to all eternity.

But I shall more particularly show the necessity of
conversion in five things ; for without this,

I. Thy being is in vain. Is it not a pity thou shouldst
be good for nothing, an unprofitable burden of the earth,
a wart or wen in the body of the universe? Thus
thou art, whilst unconverted ; for thou canst not an-
swer the end of thy being. Is it not for the divine
pleasure that thou art and wast created? Did not
God make thee for himself? Art thou a man, and hast
thou reason ? Then, bethink thyself why and whence
thy being is. Behold God's workmanship in thy body,
and ask thyself, to what end did God rear this fabric?
Consider the noble faculties of thy heaven-born soul.
To what end did God bestow these excellencies. To
no other than that thou shouldst please thyself, and
gratify thy senses ? Did God send men, like the swal-
lows, into the world, only to gather a few sticks and
dirt, and build their nests, and breed up their young,
and then away ? The very heathens could see farther
than this. Art thou so "fearfully and wonderfully
made," and dost thou not yet think with thyself— sure-
ly it was for some noble and exalted end ?

O man! set thy reason a little to work. Is it not a
pity such a goodly fabric should be raised in vain ?
Verily thou art in vain, except thou art for God: bet-
ter thou hadst no being, than not be for him. Wouldst
thou serve thy end ? thou must repent and be convert-
ed : without this, thou art to no purpose ; yea, to bad
purpose.

Thou art to no purpose. Man, unconverted, is like

Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 45

a choice instrument that hath every string broken or
out of tune. The Spirit of the living God must repair
and tune it by the grace of regeneration, and sweetly
move it by the power of actuating grace, or else thy
prayers will be but howlings, and all thy services will
make no music in the ears of the Most Holy. All thy
powers and faculties are so corrupt in thy natural state,
that, except thou be purged from dead works, thou canst
not serve the living God.

An unsanctified man cannot work the work of God.
1. He hath no skill in it; he is altogether as unskilful
in the work as in the word of righteousness. Theie
are great mysteries in the practice as well as in the
principles of godliness. Now the unregenerate know
not "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." You
may as well expect him that never learned the alpha-
bet to read, or look for goodly music on the lute from
one that never set his hand to an instrument, as that a
natural man should do the Lord any pleasing service.
He must first be taught of God, taught to pray, taught
to profit, taught to go, or else he will be utterly at a
loss. 2. He hath no strength for it. How weak is his
heart! he is presently tired. The Sabbath, what a
weariness is it! He is without strength, yea, dead in
sin. 3. He hath no mind to it; he desires not the know-
ledge of God's ways; he doth not know them, and he
doth not care to know them ; he knows not, neither will
he understand. 4. He hath neither due instruments
nor materials for it. A man may as well hew the mar-
ble without tools, or paint without colors or instruments,
or build without materials, as perform any acceptable
service, without the graces of the Spirit, which are
both the materials and instruments in the work. Alms-
giving is not a service of God, but of vain-glor}', if not

46 TUB NECESSITY OF CONVERSION* [Chap. III.

held forth by the hand of divine love. What is the
prayer of the lips without grace in the heart, but the
carcass without the life? What are all our confes-
sions, unless they be exercises of godly sorrow and
unfeigned repentance'? What our petitions, unless ani-
mated with holy desires and faith in the divine attri-
butes and promises? What our praises and thanks-
givings, unless from the love of God, and a holy grati-
tude and sense of God's mercies in the heart? So
that a man may as well expect that trees should speak,
or look for logic from the brutes, or motion from the
dead, as to look for any service, holy and acceptable to
God, from the unconverted. When the tree is evil,
how can the fruit be good?

Also, without conversion you live to bad purpose.
The unconverted soul is a very cage of unclean birds,
a sepulchre full of corruption and rottenness, a loath-
some carcass full of worms, and sending forth a most
noisome savor to God. O dreadful case! Dost thou
not yet see a change to be needful ? Would it not have
grieved one to have seen the golden consecrated ves-
sels of God's temple turned into quaffing bowls of
drunkenness, and polluted with tLe idol's service? Was
it such an abomination to the Jews, when Antiochus
set up the picture of a swine at the entrance of the
temple? How much more abominable then would it
have been to have had the very temple itself turned
into a stable or a sty; and to have had the "holy of
holies" served like the house of Baal, and have been
turned into a draught-house ! This is the very case of
the unregenerate : all thy members are turned into in-
struments of unrighteousness, servants of Satan ; and
thy inmost powers into a receptacle of uncleanness.
You may see the guests within, by what comes out ;

Chap. I1I.J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 47

for, " out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphe-
mies," &c. This black troop discovers what a hell
there is within.

O abuse insufferable ! to see a heaven-born soul abased
to the filthiest drudgery ! to see the glory of God's crea-
tion, the chief of the works of God, the Lord of the
universe, lapping with a prodigal at the trough ! Was
it such a lamentation to see those that did feed delicately
sit desolate in the streets ; and the precious sons of
Zion, comparable to line gold, esteemed as earthen
pitchers ; and those that were clothed in scarlet em-
brace dunghills ? And is it not much more fearful to
see the only thing that hath immortality in this lower
world, and carries the stamp of God, become as a ves-
sel wherein is no pleasure, and be put to the most sor-
did use? O indignity intolerable! Better thou wert
dashed in a thousand pieces, than continue to be abased
to so vile a service.

II, Not only man, but the whole visible creation, is
in vain without this. God hath made all the visible
creatures in heaven and earth for the service of man,
and man only is the spokesman for all the rest. Man
is, in the universe, like the tongue to the body, which
speaks for all the members. The other creatures can-
not praise their Maker, but by dumb signs and hints
to man that he should speak for them. Man is, as it
were, the high-priest of God's creation, to offer the sa-
crifice of praise for all his fellow creatures. The Lord
God expecteth a tribute of praise from all his works.
Now, ail the rest do bring in their tribute to man, and
pay it by his hand. So then, if a man be false, and
faithless, and selfish, God is wronged of all, and hag
no active glory from his works.

48 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. Ill

O dreadful thought to think of ! that God should
build such a world as this, and lay out such infinite
power, and wisdom, and goodness thereupon, and all
in vain ; and that man should be guilty, at last, of rob-
bing and spoiling him of the glory of all ! O think of
this. While thou art unconverted, all the offices of the
creatures are in vain to thee : thy meat nourishes thee
in vain ; the sun holds forth his light to thee in vain,
the stars that serve thee in their courses by their pow-
erful, though hidden influence, do it in vain ; thy
clothes warm thee in vain ; thy beast carries thee in
vain; in a word, the unwearied labors of the whole
creation (as to thee) are in vain. The service of all
the creatures that drudge for thee, and yield forth their
strength unto thee, that therewith thou shouldest serve
their Maker, is all but lost labor. Hence the whole
creation groaneth under the abuse of men unsanctified,
who pervert all things to the service of their lusts,
quite contrary to the very end of their being.

III. Without this, thy religion is vain ; all thy re-
ligious performances will be but lost; for they can
neither please God nor save thy soul, which are the
very ends of religion. Be thy services ever so spe-
cious, yet God hath no pleasure in them. Is not that
man's case dreadful whose sacrifices are as murders,
and whose prayers are a breath of abomination ? Many,
under convictions, think they will set upon mending,
and that a lew prayers and alms will cover all again ;
but alas, sirs! while your hearts remain unsanctified
your duties will not pass. How punctual was Jehu !
and yet all was rejected because his heart was not up-
right. How blameless was Paul ! and yet, being un-
converted, all was but loss. Men think they do much

Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 49

in attending God's service, and are ready to charge
him with it, and set him down so much their debtor ;
whereas their persons being unsanctifted, their duties
cannot be accepted.

O soul ! do not think, when thy sins pursue thee,
that a little praying and reforming thy course will pa-
cify God. Thou must begin with thine heart. If that
be not renewed, thou canst no more please God than
one who, having unspeakably offended thee, should
bring thee the most loathsome thing to pacify thee ;
or having fallen into the mire, should think with his
filthy embraces to reconcile thee.

It is a great misery to labor in the fire. The poets
could not invent a worse hell for Sisyphus than to be
ever toiling to get the barrel up the hill, and then that
it should presently roll down again and renew his la-
bor. God threatens it as the greatest of temporal judg-
ments, that they should build and not inhabit, plant
and not gather, and that their labors should be eaten
up by strangers. Is it so great a misery to lose our
common labors, to sow in vain, and to build in vain?
how much more to lose our pains in religion — to pray,
and hear, and fast in vain ! This is an undoing and
eternal loss. Be not deceived; if thou goest on in thy
sinful state, though thou shouldst spread forth thy
hands, God will hide his eyes; though thou make many
prayers, he will not hear. If a man without skill set
about our work, and spoil it in the doing, though he
take much pains, we give him but small thanks. God
will be worshipped after the due order. If a servant
do our work, but quite contrary to our order, he shall
have rather stripes than praise. God's work must be
done according to God's mind, or he will not be pleased:
and this cannot be, except it be done with a holy heart.

pz Alarm.

60 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. fCbap. III.

IV. Without this, thy hopes are in vain. " The Lord
hath rejected thy confidences."

1. The hope of comfort here is in vain. It is not
only necessary to the safety, but comfort, of your con-
dition, that you be converted. Without this, you " shall
not know peace." Without the " fear of God " you
cannot have the " comfort of the Holy Ghost." God
speaks peace only to his people and to his saints. If
you have a false peace, continuing in your sins, it is
not of God's speaking, and then you may guess the
author. Sin is a real sickness, yea, the worst of sick-
ness ; it is a leprosy in the head, the plague of the heart ;
it is rottenness in the bones; it pierceth, it woundeth, it
racketh, it tormenteth. A man may as well expect
ease when his distempers are in their full strength, or
his bones out of joint, as true comfort while in his sins.

O wretched man, that canst have no ease in this
case but what comes from the deadliness of the dis-
ease ! You shall hear the poor sick man saying, in
his wildness, he is well, when you see death in his
face ; he would be up and about his business, when the
very next step is likely to be to his grave. The un-
sanctified often see nothing amiss ; they think them-
selves whole, and cry not for the physician ; but this
only shows the danger of their case.

Sin doth naturally breed distempers and disturbances
in the soul. What a continual tempest is there in a dis-
contented mind ! what a corroding evil is inordinate
care ! what is passion but a very fever in the mind ?
what is lust but a fire in the bones ? what is pride but
a deadly dropsy? or covetousness, but an insatiable
and insufferable thirst? or malice and envy, but venom
in the very heart? Spiritual sloth is but a scurvy in

Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 51

the mind, and carnal security a mortal lethargy ; and
how can that soul have true comfort which is under
so many diseases? But converting grace cures, and
so eases the mind, and prepares the soul for a settled,
standing, immortal peace. " Great peace have they
that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them."
They are the ways of wisdom that afford pleasure and
peace. David had infinitely more pleasure in the word
than in all the delights of his court. The conscience
cannot be truly pacified till soundly purified. Cursed
is that peace which is maintained in a way of sin.
Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the
troubles in the world; peace with sin, and peace in sin.
2. Thy hopes of salvation hereafter are in vain; yea,
worse than in vain; they are most injurious to God,
most pernicious to thyself. There is death, despera-
tion and blasphemy in this hope. 1. There is death
in it. Thy confidence shall be rooted out of thy taber-
nacles, (God will up with it root and branch ;) it shall
bring thee to the king of terrors. Though thou mayest
lean upon this house, it will not stand, but will prove
like a ruinous building, which, when a man trusts to
it, falls down about him. 2. There is desperation in it :
" Where is the hope of the hypocrite when God takes
away his soul V\ Then there is an end for ever of his
hope. Indeed, the hope of the righteous hath an end ;
but it is not a destructive, but a perfective end ; his
hope ends in fruition, others in frustration. The godly
may say at death, " It is finished;" but the wicked, " It
is perished," and in too sad earnest bemoan himself, as
Job, in a mistake, " Where is now my hope ? He hath
destroyed me; I am gone, and my hope is removed
like a tree." " The righteous hath hope in his death."
When nature is dying, his hopes are living ; when his

52 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. 111.

body is languishing, his hopes are flourishing; his hope
is a living hope, but others' a dying, a damning, soul-
undoing hope : " When a wicked man dieth, his expec-
tation shall perish ; and the hope of unjust men pe-
risheth." It shall be cut off and prove like a " spider's
web," which he spins out of his own bowels ; but then
comes death and destroys all, and so there is an eter-
nal end of his confidence wherein he trusted ; for " the
eyes of the wicked shall fail, and their hope shall be as
the giving up of the ghost."

Wicked men are fixed in their carnal hope, and will
not be beaten out of it; they hold it fast ; they will not
let it go : yea, but death will knock off their fingers.
Though we cannot undeceive them, death and judg-
ment will. When death strikes his dart through thy
liver, it will ruin thy soul and thy hopes together.
The unsanctified have hope only in this life, and there-
fore are "of all men most miserable." When death'
comes, it lets them out into the amazing gulf of end-
less desperation. 3. There is blasphemy in it. To
hope we shall be saved, though continuing unconvert-
ed, is to hope that we shall prove God a liar. He hath
told you, that so merciful and pitiful as he is, he will
never save you notwithstanding, if you go on in igno-
rance, or a course of unrighteousness. In a wrord, he
has told you that, whatever you be or do, nothing shall
avail you to salvation unless you become new crea-
tures. Now, to say God is merciful, and we hope that
he will save us, is in effect to say, " We hope that God
will not do as he says." We must not set God's attri-
butes at variance; God has resolved to glorify his
mercy, but not to the prejudice of his truth, as the pre-
sumptuous sinner will find to his everlasting sorrow.

Object. But we hope in Jesus Christ; we put our

Chap. III. J THE NECES3ITY OF CONVERSION. 53

whole trust in God ; and therefore doubt not but we
shall be saved.

Ans. 1. This is not to hope in Christ, but against
Christ. To hope to see the kingdom of God without
being born again : to hope to find eternal life in the
broad way, is to hope Christ will prove a false prophet.
David's plea is, " I hope in thy word." But this hope
is against God's word. Show me a word of Christ for
thy hope that he will save thee in thine ignorance or
profane neglect of his service, and I will never try to
shake thy confidence.

2. God doth with abhorrence reject this hope. Those
condemned in the prophet, went on in their sins, yet
(saith the text) they will lean upon the Lord. Micah,
3:11. God will not endure to be made a prop to men
in their sins. The Lord rejected those presumptuous
sinners that went on still in their trespasses and yet
would stay themselves upon Israel's God, as a man
would shake off the briers that cleave to his garment.

3. If thy hope be any thing worth, it will purify thee
from thy sins ; but cursed is that hope which cherishes
men in their sins.

Object. Would you have us to despair 7
Ans. You must despair of ever coming to heaven
as you are, that is, while you remain unconverted.
You must despair of ever seeing the face of God with-
out holiness ; but you must by no means despair of
finding mercy upon your thorough repentance and con-
version; neither may you despair of attaining to re-
pentance and conversion, if you set about the work
immediately.

V. Without this, all that Christ hath done and suf-
fered will be (as to you) in vain j that is, it will no
5*

54 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. Ill

way avail you to salvation. Many urge this as a sunt
cient ground for their hopes, that Christ died for sin-
ners ; but I must tell you, Christ never died to save
impenitent and unconverted sinners, (so continuing.)
A great divine was wont, in his private dealings with
souls, to ask two questions : 1. What hath Christ done
for you? 2. What hath Christ wrought in you? With-
out the application of the Spirit in regeneration, we
can have no saving interest in the benefits of redemp-
tion.

I tell you from the Lord, that Christ himself cannot
save you if you go on in this state.

First. It were against his trust. The Mediator is
the servant of the Father, shows his commission from
him, acts in his name, and pleads his command for his
justification ; and God has committed all things to him,
entrusted his own glory and the salvation of the elect
with him. Accordingly Christ gives his Father an ac-
count of both parts of his trust before he leaves the
world. Now Christ would quite cross his Father's glo-
ry and his greatest trust, if he should save men in their
sins ; for this were to overturn all his counsels, and to
offer violence to all his attributes.

1. To overturn all his counsels; of which this is the
order, that men should be brought through sanctifica-
tion to salvation. He hath chosen them, that they
should be holy. They are elected to pardon and life
through sanctification. If thou canst repeal the law
of God's immutable counsel, or corrupt him whom the
Father hath sealed, to go directly against his commis-
sion, then, and not otherwise, mayst thou get to hea-
ven in this condition. To hope that Christ will save
thee while unconverted, is to hope that Christ will fal-
sify his trust He never did, nor ever will save one

Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 55

soul but whom the Father hath given him in election,
end drawn to him in effectual calling. Be assured,
Christ will save none in a way contrary to his Fa-
ther's will.

2. To offer violence to all his attributes.

(1.) To his justice; for the righteousness of God's
judgment lie3 in rendering to all according to their
works. Now, should men sow to the flesh, and yet of
the Spirit reap everlasting life, where were the glory
of divine justice, since it should be given to the wicked
according to the work of the righteous ?

(2.) To his holiness. If God should not only save
sinners, but save them in their sins, his most pure and
strict holiness would be exceedingly defaced. Theun-
sanctified are, in the eyes of God's holiness, exceed-
ingly vile and hateful. It would be offering the ex-
tremest violence to the infinite purity of the divine na-
ture to have such to dwell with him. tt They cannot
stand in his judgment: they cannot abide his presence."
If holy David would not endure such in his house, no,
nor in his sight, can we think God will? Should he
take men as they are, from the mire of their filthiness
to the glory of heaven, the world would think that
God was at nc such great distance from sin, nor had
any such dislike to it as we are told he hath; they
would be ready to conclude that God was altogether
such a one as themselves, as some of old wickedly did,
from the very forbearance of God.

(3.) To his veracity. For God hath declared from
heaven, that uif any shall say he shall have peace,
though he should go on in the imagination of his heart,
his wrath shall smoke against that man." That " they
(only) that confess and forsake their sins shall find
mercy." That " they that shall enter into his hill must

56 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. III.

be of clean hands and a pure heart." Where were
God's truth, if, notwithstanding all this, he should bring
men to salvation without conversion? O desperate
sinner, that darest to hope that Christ will put the lie
upon his Father, and nullify his word to save thee !

(4.) To his wisdom. For this were to throw away
the choicest of mercies on them that would not value
them, nor were any way suited to them.

They would not value them. The unsanctified sin-
ner puts but little price upon God's great salvation.
He sets no more by Christ than the whole by the phy-
sician. He prizes not his balm, values not his cure,
but tramples upon his blood. Now, would it stand
with wisdom to force pardon and life upon those that
would return no thanks ? Will the all-wise God (when
he hath forbidden us to do it) throw his holy things to
dogs, and his pearls to swine, that would, as it weref
but turn again and rend him ? This would make mer
cy to be despised indeed. Wisdom requires that liffl
be given in a way suitable to God's honor, and that
God provide for the securing of his own glory as weU
as man's felicity. It would be dishonorable to God to
bestow his choicest riches on them that have more
pleasure in their lusts than in heavenly delights. God
would lose the praise and glory of his grace, if he
should cast it away upon them that were not only un-
worthy, but unwilling.

Also, the mercies of God are no way suited to the
unconverted. The divine wisdom is seen in suiting
things to each other, the means to the end, the object
to the faculty, the quality of the gift to the capacity of
the receiver. Now, if Christ should bring the unre*
generate sinner to heaven, he could take no more feli-
city there than a beast if you should bring him into a

Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 57

beautiful room, to the society of learned men ; where-
as the poor thing had much rather be grazing with his
fellow-brutes. Alas! what could an unsanctified crea-
ture do in heaven? he could not be contented there,
because nothing suits him. The place doth not suit him ;
he would be quite out of his element, a fish out of water
The company doth not suit him: what communion
hath darkness with light? corruption with perfection?
filth and rottenness with glory and immortality ? The
employment doth not suit him ; the anthems of heaven
fit not his mouth, suit not his ear. Canst thou charm
thy beast with music? or wilt thou bring him to thy
organ and expect that he should make thee melody,
or keep time with the tuneful choir? or, had he skill,
he would have no will, and so could find no pleasure
in it. Spread thy table with delicacies before a lan-
guishing patient, and it will be a very great offence.
Alas! if the poor man say of a Sabbath-day, "What a
weariness is it !" how miserable would he think it to
be engaged in an everlasting Sabbath?

5. To his immutability, or else to his omniscience or
omnipotence; for this is enacted in the conclave of
heaven, and enrolled in the decrees of the court above,
that none but the "pure in heart shall ever see God;"
this is laid up with him, and sealed among his trea-
sures. Now, if Christ yet bring any to heaven uncon-
verted, either he must get them in without his Fathers
knowledge, and then where is his omniscience? or
against his will, and then where were his omnipotence?
or he must change his will, and then where were his
immutability ?

Sinner, wilt thou not give up thy vain hope of being
saved in this condition? Saith Bildad, "Shall the
earth be forsaken for thee ? or the rocks be moved out

59 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. nL

of their place ?" May I not much more reason so with
thee ? Shall the laws of heaven be reversed for thee ?
Shall the everlasting foundations be overturned for
thee? Shall Christ put out the eye of his Father's
omniscience, or shorten the arm of his eternal power
for thee? Shall divine justice be violated for thee? or
the brightness of his holiness be blemished for thee ?
O the impossibility, absurdity, blasphemy, that are in
such a confidence ! To think Christ will ever save
thee in this condition, is to make the Savior become a
sinner, and do more wrong to infinite Majesty than all
the wicked on earth or devils in hell ever did, or ever
could do ; and yet wilt thou not give up such a blas-
phemous hope?

Second. Against his word.

We need not say, " Who shall ascend into heaven,
to bring down Christ from above? Or, who shall de-
scend into the deep, to bring up Christ from beneath ?
The word is nigh us." Are you agreed that Christ
shall end the controversy ? Hear then his own wTords
"Except ye be converted, ye shall in no wise enter in-
to the kingdom of heaven." " You must be born again."
"If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me.5' "Re-
pent or perish." One word, one would think, were
enough from Christ ; but how often and earnestly doth
he reiterate it ! "Verily, verily, except a man be born
again, he shall not see the kingdom of God." Yea, he
doth not only assert but prove the necessity of the
new birth, namely, from the fleshliness and sinfulness
of man from his first birth, by reason of which man is
no more fit for heaven than the beast is for the chamber
of the king's presence. And wilt thou yet believe thy
own presumptuous confidence, directly against Christ's
words ? He must go quite against the law of his king-
dom, rule of his judgment, to save thee in this state.

Chap. III.] THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. 59

Third. Against his oath.

He hath lifted up his hand to heaven, he hath sworn
that those who remain in unbelief and know not his
ways (that is, are ignorant of them, or disobedient to
them,) shall not enter into his rest. And wilt thou
not )ret believe, O sinner, that he is in earnest? Canst
thou hope he will be forsworn for thee ? The covenant
of grace is confirmed by an oath and sealed by blood;
but all must be made void, and another way to heaven
found out, if thou be saved, living and dying unsancti-
fied. God is come to his last terms with man, and has
condescended as far as in honor he could. Men can-
not be saved while unconverted, except they could get
another covenant made, and the whole frame of the
Gospel (which was established for ever with such dread-
ful solemnities) quite altered. And must not they be
distracted, to hope that they shall?

Fourth. Against his honor.

God will so show his love to the sinner, as withal to
show his hatred to sin ; therefore "he that names the
name of Jesus must depart from iniquity and deny all
ungodliness; and he that hath hope of life by Christ
must "purify himself as he is pure," otherwise Christ
would be thought a favorer of sin. The Lord Jesus
would have all the world to know, that though he par-
dons sin, he will not protect it. If holy David say,
"Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity," Psa.
6 : 8, and shut the doors against them, Psa. 101 : 7, shall
not such more expect it from Christ's holiness ?

Fifth. Against his offices.

"God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Savior."
He would act against both, should he save men in their
sins. It is the office of a king to be "a terror to evil
doers, and a praise to them that do well." "He is a

60 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. Ill

minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him
that doth evil." Now, should Christ favor the ungodly,
(so continuing,) and take those to reign with him that
would not that he should reign over them, this would
be quite against his office ; he therefore reigns that he
may "put his enemies under his feet." Now, should
he lay them in his bosom, he would cross the end of
his regal power ; it belongs to Christ, as a King, to sub-
due the hearts and slay the lusts of his chosen. What
king would take rebels in open hostility into his court ?
What were this but to betray life, kingdom, govern-
ment, and all together 1 If Christ be a King, he must
have honor, homage, subjection. Now, to save men
while in their natural enmity, were to obscure his dig-
nity, lose his authority, bring contempt on his govern-
ment, and sell his dear-bought rights for naught.

Again, as Christ would not be a Prince, so neither a
Savior, if he should do this : for his salvation is spiri-
tual. He is called Jesus, because he saves his people
from their sins. Matt. 1 : 21. So that, should he save
them in their sins, he would be neither Lord nor Jesus.
To save men from the punishment, and not from the
power of sin, were to do his work by halves, and be an
imperfect Savior. His office as the Deliverer, is " to
turn away ungodliness from Jacob." " He is sent to
bless men, in turning them from their iniquities," " To
make an end of sin." So that he would destroy his
own designs, and nullify his offices, to save men abid-
ing in their unconverted state.

Application. — Arise then ! What meanest thou, O
sleeper? Awake, O secure sinner! lest thou be con-
sumed in thine iniquities : say, as the lepers, " If we
sit here, we shall die." Verily, it is not more certain
that thou art now out of hell, than that thou shait

Chap. III. J THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION 6l

speedily be in it, except thou repent and be converted :
there is but this one door for thee to escape by. Arise
then, O sluggard, and shake off thine excuses : how
long wilt thou slumber, and fold thy hands to sleep ?
Wilt thou lie down in the midst of the sea, or sleep on
the top of a mast ? There is no remedy, but thou must
either turn or burn. There is an unchangeable neces-
sity of the change of thy condition, except thou hast
resolved to abide the worst of it. and try it out with the
Almighty. If thou lovest thy life, O man, arise and
come away. Methinks I see the Lord Jesus laying
the merciful hands of a holy violence upon thee ; me-
Ihinks he acts like the angels to Lot : " Then the an-
gels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, lest thou be consumed.
And, while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his
hand, the Lord being merciful unto him; and they
brought him without the city, and said, Escape for thy
life, stay not in all the plain ; escape to the mountains,
lest thou be consumed."

O how wilful will thy destruction be if thou
shouldst yet harden thyself in thy sinful state ! But
none of you can say that you have not had fair warn-
ing. Yet methinks I cannot tell how to leave you so.
It is not enough for me to have delivered my own souk
What! shall I go away without my errand? Will
none of you arise and follow me ? Have I been all this
while speaking to the wind ? have I been charming
the deaf adder, or allaying the restless ocean with ar-
gument? Do I speak to the trees or rocks, or to men ?
to the tombs or monuments of the dead, or to a living
auditory? If you be men, and not senseless stocks,
stand still and consider whither you are going; if you
have the reason and understanding of men, dare not to
run into the flames^ and fall into hell with your pyes

„ Aiitriu.

62 THE NECESSITY OF CONVERSION. [Chap. IIL

open ; but bethink yourselves, and set to the work of
repentance. What! men, and yet run into the pit,
when the very beasts will not be forced in ! What ! en-
dowed with reason, and yet trifle with death and hell,
and the vengeance of the Almighty ! Are men herein
only distinguished from very brutes, that these, having
no foresight, have no care to provide for the things to
come; and will yon, who are warned, not hasten your
escape from eternal torments? O show yourselves
men, and let reason prevail with you.

Is it a reasonable thing for you to contend against
the Lord your Maker? or "to harden yourselves
against his word," Job, 9 : 4, as though the Strength
of Israel would lie ? Is it reasonable that an under-
standing creature should lose, yea, live quite against,
the very end of his being, and be as a broken pitcher,
only fit for the dunghill ? Is it reasonable that the only
thing in this world that God hath made capable of
knowing his will and bringing him glory, should yet
live in ignorance of his Maker, and be unserviceable to
his use, yea, should be engaged against him, and resist
his Creator? "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, 0 earth,"
and let the creatures without sense judge if this be rea-
son, that man, whom God hath " nourished and brought
up, should rebel against him?" Judge in your own
selves. Is it a reasonable undertaking for briers and
thorns to set themselves in battle against the devouring
fire? or for the potsherd of the earth to strive with its
Maker ? You will say, " This is not reason ;" or sure-
ly the eye of reason is quite put out. And, if this be
not reason, then there is no reason that you should
continue as you are, but there is all the reason in the
world that you should forthwith turn and repent.

What shall I say ? I could spend myself in this ar-

Chap. I V.J THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 63

gument. O that you would but hearken to me ! that
you would now set upon a new course ! Will you not
be made clean ? When shall it once be ? Wilt thou
sit down and consider the forementioned argument,
and debate it, whether it be not best to turn 1 Come,
and let us reason together ; is it good for thee to be
here ? Wilt thou sit till the tide come in upon thee ?
[s it good for thee to try whether God will be as good as
his word, and to harden thyself in a conceit that all is
well with thee while thou remainest unsanctified ?

Alas ! for such sinners; must they perish at last by
hundreds? What course shall I use with them that
I have not tried? " What shall I do for the daughter
of my people?" 0 Lord God, help. Alas! shall I
leave them thus? If they will not hear me, yet do
thou hear me. O that they may yet live in thy sight !
Lord, save them, or else they perish. My heart would
melt 'to see their houses on fire about their ears when
they were fast asleep in their beds ; and shall not my
soul be moved within me to see them falling into end-
less perdition ? Lord, have compassion, and save them
out of the burning : put forth thy divine power, and
the work will be done ; but, as for me, I cannot prevail.

CHAPTEH IV.

Showing' the Marks of the Unconverted.

While we keep aloof in generals there is little fruit
to be expected ; it is the hand-fight that does execution,
David is not awakened by the prophet's hovering at a
distance in parabolical insinuations ; he is forced to
close with him, and tell him plainly, " Thou art the

64 THE MARKS OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. IV

man." Few will, in words, deny the necessity of the
new birth ; but they have a self-deluding confidence
that the work is not now to do. And because they
know themselves free from that gross hypocrisy which
takes up religion merely for a color to deceive others
and for covering wicked designs, they are confident of
their sincerity, and suspect not that more close hypo-
crisy (wherein the greatest danger lies) by which a
man deceiveth his own soul. But man's deceitful
heart is such a matchless cheat, and self-delusion so
reigning and so fatal a disease, that I know not whe-
ther be the greater, the difficulty or the necessity of
the undeceiving work that I am now upon. Alas for
the unconverted ! they must be undeceived, or they
will be undone. But how shall this be effected?

Help, O all-searching Light, and let thy discerning
eye discover the rotten foundation of the self-deceiver ;
and lead me, O Lord God, as thou didst the prophet,
into the chambers of imagery, and dig through the wall
of sinners' hearts, and discover the hidden abomina-
tions that are lurking out of sight in the dark. O send
thy angel before me to open the sundry wards of their
hearts, as thou didst before Peter, and make even the
iron gates to fly open of their own accord. And as
Jonathan no sooner tasted the honey but his eyes were
enlightened, so grant, O Lord, that when the poor de-
ceived souls with whom I have to do shall cast their
eyes upon these lines, their minds may be illuminated,
and their consciences convinced and awakened, that
they may see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and be converted, and thou mayest heal them.

This must be premised before we proceed to the dis-
covery, that it is most certain men may have a confi-
dent persuasion that their hearts and states are good,

Chap. IV. J THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 65

and yet be unsound. Hear the Truth himself, who
shows, in Laodicea's case, that men may be wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, and yet
not know it : yea, they may be confident they are rich,
and increased in grace. Rev. 3 : 17. " There is a gene-
ration that are pure in their own eyes, and yet not
washed from their filthiness." Prov. 30 : 12. Who bet-
ter persuaded of his state than Paul, while he yet re-
mained unconverted ? Rom. 7:9. So that they are mi-
serably deceived who take a strong confidence for a
sufficient evidence. They that have no better proof
than barely a strong persuasion that they are convert-
ed, are certainly as yet strangers to conversion.

But to come more close. As it was said to the adhe-
rents of Antichrist, so here ; some of the unconverted
carry their marks in their forehead more openly, and
some in their hands more covertly. The apostle reckons
up some upon whom he writes the sentence of death;
as in these dreadful catalogues, which I beseech you to
attend to with all diligence. " For this ye know, that
no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor coveteus
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive
you with vain words ; for because of these things Com-
eth the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience."
" But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and ido-
laters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake
that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death." " Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived ; neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves,
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extor-
6*

66 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [ Chap. IV.

tioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Wo to
them that have their name written in this catalogue *
Such may know, as certainly as if God had told them
from heaven, that they are unsanctiiied, and under an
impossibility of being saved in this condition.

There are then these several sorts that, past all dis-
pute, are unconverted ; they carry their marks in their
foreheads.

1. The unclean. These are ever reckoned among
the goats, and have their names (whoever is left out)
m all the forementioned catalogues.

2. The covetous. These are ever branded for idola-
ters, and the doors of the kingdom are shut against
them by name.

3. Drunkards. Not only such as drink away their
reason, but withal (yea, above all) such as are tco
strong for strong drink. The Lord fills his mouth
with woes against these, and declares them to have no
inheritance in the kingdom of God.

4. Liars. The God that cannot lie has told them
that there is no place for them in his kingdom, no en-
trance into his hill ; but their portion is with the father
of lies, whose children they are, in the lake of burnings.

5. Swearers. The end of these, without deep and
speedy repentance, is swift destruction, and most cer-
tain and unavoidable condemnation.

6. Railers and backbiters, that love to take up a re-
proach against their neighbor, and fling all the dirt
they can in his face, or else wround him secretly be-
hind his back.

7. Thieves, extortioners, oppressors, that grind the
poor, or over-reach their brethren when they have
them at an advantage : these must know that God " is

Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OP THE UNCONVERTED. 67

the avenger of all such." Hear, 0 ye false and pur-
loining and wasteful servants ! hear, O ye deceitful
tradesmen, hear your sentence! God will certainly
hold his door against you, and turn your treasures of
unrighteousness into the treasures of wrath, and make
your ill-gotten silver and gold to torment you, like
burning metal in your bowels.

8. All that do ordinarily live in the profane neglect
of God's worship, that hear not his word, that call not
on his name, that restrain prayer before God, that mind
not their own nor their families' souls, but " live with-
out God in the world."

9. Those that are frequenters and lovers of vain
company. God hath declared, he will be the destroyer
of all such, and that they shall never enter into the
hill of his rest.

10. Scoffers at religion, that make a scorn of precise
walking, and mock at the messengers and diligent ser-
vants of the Lord, and at their holy profession, and
make themselves merry with the weakness and fail-
ings of professors : " Hear, ye despisers," hear your
dreadful doom !

Sinner, consider diligently whether thou art not to
be found in one of these ranks ; for if this be thy case,
thou art in the " gall of bitterness and bond of iniqui-
ty;" for all these do carry their marks in their fore-
heads, and are undoubtedly the sons of death. And if
so, the Lord pity our poor congregations ! O how small
a number will remain, when these ten sorts are left
out ! May God show you your danger, and constrain
you to cry, " Lord, have mercy upon us !"

Sirs, what shift do you make to keep up your con-
fidence of your good state, when God from heaven de-

68 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Cbap. IV

clares against you, and pronounces you m a state o!
damnation? I would reason with you as God with
them, M How canst thou say, I am not polluted '? See
thy way in the valley; know what thou hast done."
Man, is not thy conscience privy to thy tricks of de-
ceitj to thy secret sins, to thy way of lying ? Yea, are
not thy friends, thy family, thy neighbors, witnesses
to thy profane neglect of God's worship, to thy cove-
tous practices, to thy envious and malicious carriage %
May they not point at thee as thou goest — There goes
a gaming prodigal ; there goes a drunken Nabal. a com-
panion of evil-doers ; there goes a railer, or a scoffer,
or a loose liver ? Beloved, God hath written it as with
a sunbeam, in the book by which you must be judged,
that these are not the spots of his children, and that
none such (except renewed by converting grace) shall
ever escape the damnation of hell.

O that such as you would now be persuaded to " re-
pent and turn from all your transgressions, or else ini-
quity will be your ruin !" Alas ! for poor hardened
sinners ! However, you must know that you have been
warned, and that I am clear of your blood ; and whe-
ther men will hear, or whether they will forbear, I will
leave these Scriptures with them, which will prove
either as thunder-bolts to awaken them, or as searing-
irons to harden them. " God shall wound the head of
his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as
goeth on still in his trespasses." " He that, being often
reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be de-
stroyed, and that without remedy." " Because I have
called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand,
and no man regarded, &c. I will laugh at your calami-
ty— when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind !"

And now I imagine many will begin to bless them-

Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 69

selves, and think all is well, because they are not spot-
ted with these grosser evils ; but I must tell you that
there is another sort of unsanctifled persons, that carry
not their marks in their foreheads, but more secretly
and covertly ! These do frequently deceive themselves
and others, and pass for good Christians, when they
are all the while unsound at the foundation. Many
pass undiscovered, till death and judgment bring all to
light. Those self-deceivers seem to come even to hea-
ven's gate with confidence of their admission, and yet
are turned off at last. I beseech you deeply to lay to
heart and firmly retain this awakening consideration,
" that multitudes miscarry by the hand of some secret
sin, that is not only hidden from others, but for want
of observing their own hearts, even from themselves."
A man may be free from open pollutions, and yet die
at last by the fatal hand of some unobserved iniquity ;
and there are these twelve hidden sins, through which
souls go down by numbers into the chambers of eter-
nal death : these you must search carefully for, and
take them as black marks (wherever they be found)
discovering a graceless and unconverted state ; and as
you love your lives, read carefully, with a holy j ea-
lousy of yourselves, lest you should be the persons
concerned.

1. Gross willful ignorance. O how many poor souls
doth this sin kill in the dark ! Hos. 4 : 6, while they
think verily they have good hearts, and are in the rea-
dy way to heaven ! This is the murderer that despatch-
ed thousands in a silent manner, when (poor hearts !)
they suspect nothing, and see not the hand that de-
stroys them. You shall find, whatever excuses you
make for ignorance, that it is a soul-ruining evil. Isa.

70 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [.Chap. IV

27:11. 2Thess. 1:8. 2 Cor. 4:3. Ah ! would it not
nave grieved a man's heart to have seen that woful
spectacle, when the poor Protestants were shut up, (a
multitude together in a barn,) and a butcher came,
with his inhuman hands warmed in human blood, and
led them one by one (blindfold) to a block, where he
slew them, one after another, by scores, in cold blood?
But how much more should your hearts bleed to think
of the hundreds, in great congregations, that ignorance
doth destroy in secret, and lead blindfold to the block!
Beware that this be not your case. Make no plea for
ignorance ; if you spare that sin, know that it will not
spare you ; and would a man keep a murderer in his
bosom ?

2. Secret reserves in closing with Christ. To for-
sake all for Christ, to hate father and mother, yea, a
man's own life for him: Luke, 14: 26. — "This is a hard
saying." Some will do much, but they will not have
the religion that wrill save them ; they never come to
be entirely devoted to Christ, nor fully to resign to him,
they must have the sweet sin; they mean to do them-
selves no harm ; they have secret exceptions for life,
liberty, or estate. Many take Christ thus, and never
consider his self-denying terms, nor count the cost,
and this error in the foundation mars all, and secretly
ruins them for ever.

3. Formality in religion. Many rest in the outside
of religion, and in the external performance of holy
duties. And this oftentimes doth most effectually de-
ceive men, and more certainly undo them than open
profaneness ; as it wras in the Pharisee's case. They
hear, they fast, they pray, they give alms, and there-
fore will not believe but their case is good. Vvhereas,
resting in the wrork done, and coming short of the

Ctiap. IV. J THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 71

heart-work and the inward power and vitality of reli-
gion, they fall at last into the burning, from the natter-
ing hopes and confident persuasions of their being in
the ready way to heaven. O dreadful case, when a
man's religion shall serve only to harden him, and ef-
fectually to delude and deceive his own soul!

4. False ends in holy duties. This was the ruin of
the Pharisees. O how many a poor soul is undone
by this, and drops into hell before he discerns his mis-
take! He performs his 'good duties,' and so thinks
all is well, but perceives not that he is actuated by car-
nal motives all the while. It is too true, that, even
with the really sanctified, many carnal ends will oft-
times creep in : but they are the matter of their hatred
and humiliation, and never come to be habitually pre-
valent with them and bear the greatest sway. But
now, when the main thing that doth ordinarily carry
a man out to religious duties shall be really some car-
nal end; as to satisfy his conscience, to get the repu-
tation of being religious, "to be seen of men," to show
his own gifts and parts, to avoid the reproach of a pro-
fane and irreligious person, or the like ; this discovers
an unsound heart. O Christian ! if you wrould avoid
self-deceit, see that you mind not only your acts, but
withal (yea above all) your ends.

5. Trusting in their own righteousness. This is a
soui-ruining mischief. When men trust in their own
righteousness they do indeed reject Christ's. Beloved,
you had need be watchful on every hand ; for, not only
your sins, but your duties may undo you. It may be
you never thought of this, but so it is, that a man may
as certainly miscarry by his seeming righteousness
and supposed graces as by gross sins; and that is,
when a man doth trust to these as his righteousness

72 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. IV

before God, for the satisfying his justice, appeasing his
wrath, procuring his favor, and obtaining his own par.»
don ; for this is to put Christ out of office, and make a
Savior of our own duties and graces. Beware of this,
O professors ; you are much in duties, but this one fly
will spoil all the ointment. When you have done most
and best, be sure go out of yourselves to Christ ; reck-
on your own righteousness but filthy rags.

6. A secret enmity against the strictness of religion.
Many moral persons, punctual in their formal devo-
tions, have a bitter enmity against strictness and zeal,
and hate the life and power of religion. They like
not this forwardness, nor that men should make such
a stir in religion ; they condemn the strictness of reli-
gion as singularity, indiscretion, and intemperate zeal,
and with them a lively preacher or lively Christian is
but an enthusiast. These men love not holiness as ho-
liness, (for then they wrould love the height of holiness,)
and therefore are undoubtedly rotten at heart, whatever
good opinion they have of themselves.

7 The resting in a certain degree of religion. When
they have so much as will save them, (as they sup-
pose,) they look no farther, and so show themselves
short of true grace, which will ever put men upon as-
piring to perfection.

8. The predominant love of the world. This is the
sure evidence of an unsanctifled heart. But how close
doth this sin lurk ofttimes under the fair covert of
forward profession ! Yea, such a power of deceit i3
there in this sin, that many times, when every body
else can see the man's worldliness and covetousness,
he cannot see it himself, but hath so many colors, and
excuses, and pretences for his eagerness after the
world that he doth blind his own eyes and perish in

Chap. IV.] THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. 73

his self-deceit. How many professors are there with
whom the world hath more of their hearts and affec-
tions than Christ, "who mind earthly things," and
thereby are evidently after the flesh, and like to end in
destruction I Yet ask these men, and they will tell you
confidently they prize Christ above all ; for they see
not their earthly-mindedness, for want of a strict obser-
vation of the workings of their own hearts. Did they
but carefully search, they would quickly find that their
greatest satisfaction is in the world, and their greatest
care and main endeavor to get and secure the world
which are the certain signs of an unconverted sinner.
May the professing part of the world take earnest heed
that they perish not by the hand of this sin unobserved.
Men may be, and often are, kept off from Christ as
effectually by the inordinate love of lawful comforts,
as by the most unlawful courses.

9. Reigning malice and envy against those that dis-
respect them, and are injurious to them. 0! how
do many, that seem to be religious, remember injuries
and carry grudges, rendering evil for evil, loving to
take revenge, wishing evil to them that wrong them,
directly against the rule of the Gospel, the pattern of
Christ, and the nature of God ! Doubtless, where this
evil is kept boiling in the heart, and is not hated, re-
sisted, and mortified, but doth habitually prevail, that
person is in the very gall of bitterness and in a state
of death.

Reader, doth nothing of this touch thee ? Art thou
in none of the fore-mentioned ranks ? O search, and
search again; take thy heart solemnly to task. Wo
unto thee, if, after thy profession, thou shouldst be
found under the power of ignorance, lost in formality,
drowned in earthly-mindedness, envenomed with ma-

*r Alarm

74 THE MARKS OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. JV

lice, exalted in an opinion of thine own righteousness,
leavened with hypocrisy and carnal ends in God's ser-
vice, and imbittered against strictness ; this would be a
sad discovery, that all thy religion were in vain. But
I must proceed.

10. Unmortified pride. When men love the praise
of men more than the praise of God, and set their
hearts upon men's esteem, applause, and approbation,
it is most certain that they are yet in their sins, and
strangers to true conversion. When men see not, nor
complain, nor groan under, the pride of their own
hearts, it is a sign they are dead in sin. O, how se-
cretly doth this sin live and reign in many hearts, and
they know it not, but are very strangers to themselves!

11. The prevailing love of pleasure. This is a black
mark. When men give the flesh the liberty that it
craves, and pamper and please it, and do not deny and
restrain it; when their great delight is in gratifying
their appetites and pleasing their senses; whatever
appearances they may have of religion, all is unsound.
A flesh-pleasing life cannot be pleasing to God : " They
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh," and are
careful to keep it under, as their enemy.

12. Carnal security, or a presumptuous ungrounded
confidence that their condition is already good. Many
cry, peace and safety, when sudden destruction is
coming upon them. This was that which kept the fool
ish virgins sleeping when they should have been work-
ing, upon their beds when they should have been at the
markets. They perceived not their want of oil, till
the bridegroom was come; and while they went to
buy, the door was shut. And, O ! that these foolish
virgins had no successors! Where is the place, yea,
where is the house almost, where these do not dwell 1

Chap. IV.] IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 75

Men are willing to cherish in themselves, upon ever so
slight grounds, a hope that their condition is good, and
so look not out after a change, and by these means
perish in their sins. Are you at peace? Show me
upon what grounds }7our peace is maintained. Is it
Scripture peace? Can you show the distinguishing
marks of a sound believer? Can you evidence that
you have something more than any hypocrite in the
world ever had ? If not, fear this peace more than
any trouble ; and know that a carnal peace doth com-
monly prove the most mortal enemy of the soul, and,
whilst it smiles, and kisses, and speaks fairly, doth
fatally smite, as it were, under the fifth rib.

By this time I think I hear my readers crying out
with the disciples, u Who then shall be saved ?" Set
out from among our congregations all those ten ranks
of the profane on the one hand, and then beside take
out all these twelve sorts of close and self-deceiving
hypocrites on the other hand, and tell me then whether
it be not a small remnant that shall be saved ! How
few will be the sheep that shall be left, when all these
shall be separated and set among the goats ! For my
part, of all my numerous hearers, I have no hope to
see any of them in heaven that are to be found among
these two-and-twenty sorts that are here mentioned,
except by sound conversion they are brought into an-
other condition.

Application. — And now, conscience, do thy office:
speak out, and speak home to him that heareth or
readeth these lines. If thou find any of these marks
upon him, thou must pronounce him utterly unclean.
Take not a lie in thy mouth ; speak not peace to him
to whom God speaks no peace; let not lust bribe thee,
or self-love or carnal prejudice blind thee. I summon

76 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. [Chap. IV,

thee from the court of heaven to come and give evi-
dence : I require thee, in the name of God, to go with
me in search of the suspected house. As thou wilt
answer it at thy peril, give in a true report of the state
and case of him that readeth this book. Conscience,
wilt thou altogether hold thy peace at such a time as
this ? I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell the
truth. Is the man converted, or is he not? Doth he
allow himself in any way of wickedness, or doth he
not? Doth he truly love, and please, and prize, and
delight in God above all things, or not ? Come, put it
to an issue.

How long shall this soul live at uncertainties ? O
conscience, bring in thy verdict. Is this man a new
man, or is he not ? How dost thou find it? Hath there
passed a thorough and mighty change upon him, or
not? When was the time, where was the place, or
what were the means by which this thorough change
of the new birth was wrought in his soul? Speak,
conscience; or if thou canst not tell the time and
place, canst thou show Scripture evidence that the
work is done ? Hath the man been ever taken off from
his false foundation, from the false hopes and false
peace wherein once he trusted ? Hath he been deeply
convinced of sin, and of his lost or undone condition,
and brought out of himself, and off from his sins, to
give up himself entirely to Jesus Christ? or dost thou
not find him to this day under the power of ignorance,
or in the mire of worldliness? Hast thou not taken
upon him the gains of unrighteousness ? Dost thou
not find him a stranger to prayer, a neglecter of the
word, a lover of this present world? Dost thou not
sometimes catch him in a lie ? Dost thou not find his
neart fermented with malice, or burning with lust, or

Chap. IV. IMPROVEMENT OP THE SUBJECT. 77

going after his covetousness ? Speak plainly to all the
forementioned particulars. Canst thou acquit this man,
this woman, from being any of the two-and-twenty
sorts here described? If he be found with any of
them, set him aside ; his portion is not with the saints.
He must be converted and made a new creature, or he
cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Mortals, be not your own betrayers ; do not deceive
your own hearts, nor set your hands to your own
ruin by a willful blinding of yourselves. Set up a tri-
bunal in your own breasts : bring the word and con-
science together. " To the law and to the testimony."
Hear what the word concludes of your state. O follow
the search till you find how the case stands. Mistake
here, and you perish. And, such is the treachery of the
heart, the subtlety of the tempter, and the deceitfulness
of sin, all conspiring to flatter and deceive the poor
soul, and withal so common and easy it is to mistake,
that it is a thousand to one but you will be deceived,
unless you be very careful, and earnest, and impartial
in the inquiry into your spiritual condition. 0 there-
fore be diligent in your work; go to the bottom; search
with candles ; weigh you in the balance ; come to the
standard of the sanctuary; bring your coin to the
touchstone. You have the archest cheats in the world
to deal with ; a world of counterfeit coin is passing ;
happy is he that takes no counterfeit for gold. Satan
is master of deceit ; he can draw to the life : he is per-
fect in the trade ; there is nothing but he can imitate.
You cannot wish for any grace, but he can fit you to a
hair with a counterfeit. Be jealous ; trust not so much
to your own hearts. Go to God to search you and try
you, to examine you and prove your reins. If other
helps suffice not to bring all to an issue, but you are
7*

78 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap, V

still at a loss, open your case ingenuously to some
godly and faithful minister, or Christian friend. Rest
not till you have put the business of your eternal wel-
fare out of doubt. " O Searcher of hearts, put thou
this soul upon, and help him in his search."

Showing the Miseries of tfie Unconverted.

So unspeakably dreadful is the case of every uncon-
verted soul, that I have sometimes thought if I could
but convince men that they are yet unregenerate, the
work were more than half done.

But I find by sad experience that such a spirit of
sloth and slumber possesses the unsanctified, that,
though they be convinced that they are yet unconvert-
ed, they oft-times carelessly sit still ; and through the
love of sensual pleasure, or the hurry of worldly busi-
ness, or the noise and clamor of earthly cares, and
lusts, and affections, the voice of conscience is drowned,
and men go no farther than some cold wishes and
general purposes of repenting and amending.

It is therefore of high necessity that I not only con-
vince men that they are unconverted, but that I also
endeavour to bring them to a sense of the fearful
misery of this state.

But here I find myself aground at first setting off.
What tongue can tell them sufficiently of their misery,
unless it were his who was in that flame 1 Luke, 16 :
24. Where is the ready writer whose pen can depict
their misery who are without God in the world ? This

Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 79

cannot fully be done, unless we know the infinite ocean
of bliss which is in perfection in God, and from which
a state of sin doth exclude men. "Who knoweth"
(saith Moses) " the power of thine anger ?" And how
shall I tell men that which I do not know? Yet so
much we know, as one would think would shake the
heart of that man that had the least degree of spiritual
life and sense.

But this is yet the more perplexing difficulty, that I
am to speak to them that are without spiritual sense.
Alas ! this is not the least part of man's misery, that
he is dead, quite dead, in trespasses and sins.

Could I bring paradise into view, or represent the
kingdom of heaven to as much advantage as the
tempter did the kingdoms of the world, and all the glory
thereof, to our Savior ; or could I uncover the face of
the deep and devouring gulf of Tophet in all its ter-
rors, and open the gates of the infernal furnace ; alas !
he hath no eyes to see it. Could I paint the beauties
of holiness or the glory of the Gospel ; or could I ex-
pose to view the more than diabolical deformity and
ugliness of sin: he can no more judge of the loveli-
ness and beauty of the one, and the filthiness and hate-
fulness of the other, than a blind man of colors. He
is alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance
that is in him because of the blindness of his heart.
He neither doth nor can know the things of God, be-
cause they are spiritually discerned. His eyes cannot
be savingly opened but by converting grace. He is a
child of darkness, and walks in darkness. Yea, the
light in him is darkness.

Shall I ring his knell, or read his sentence, or sound
in his ears the terrible trump of God's judgments, that
one would think should make both his ears to tingle,

80 MISERIES OF THE UNCON VERTED. [Chap. V

and strike him into Belshazzars fit, even to change his
countenance, and to loose his joints, and make his knees
to smite one against another? Alas! he perceives me
not : he hath no ears to hear. Or shall I call up the
daughters of music, and sing the song of Moses and
the Lamb ? Yet he will not be stirred. Shall I allure
him with the joyful sound, and lovely song, and glad
tidings of the Gospel? with the most sweet and invit-
ing calls, comforts, and cordials of the divine pro-
mises so exceedingly great and precious? It will not
affect him savingly, unless I could find him ears as
well as tell him the news.

Shall I set before him the feast of fat things, the wine
of wisdom, the bread of God, the hidden manna? He
hath no appetite for them, no mind to them. Should I
press the choicest grapes, the heavenly clusters of Gos-
pel privileges, and drink to him in the richest wine of
God's grace; or set before him the delicious honey-
comb of God's testimonies ? Alas ! he hath no taste
to discern them. Shall I invite the dead to rise and
eat the banquet of their funerals ? No more can the
dead in sin relish the holy food wherewith the Lord of
life hath spread his table.

What then shall I do ? shall I uncover to him the
lake that burnetii with fire and brimstone ? or shall I
open the box of spikenard, very precious, that filleth
the whole house of the universe with its perfume, and
hope that the savor of Christ's ointments and the
smell of his garments will attract him ? Alas ! dead
sinners are like the dumb idols : they have mouths, but
they speak not ; eyes have they, but they see not ; they
have ears, but they hear not ; noses have they, but they
smell not ; they have hands, but they handle not ; feet
have they, but they walk not 5 neither speak they

Chap. V.| MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 81

through their throat. They are destitute of spiritual
sense and motion.

But let me try the sense that doth last leave us, and
draw the sword of the word; yet, though I choose
mine arrows out of God's quiver, and direct them to
the heart, nevertheless he feeleth not; for how should
he, being past feeling? so that, though "the wrath
of God abideth on him," and the mountainous weight
of so many thousand sins, yet he goes up and down as
light as if nothing ailed him. In a word, he carries a
dead soul in a living body, and his flesh is but the
walking coffin of a corrupt mind that is twice dead.
Jude, 12.

Which way then shall I come at the miserable ob-
jects that I have to deal with? Who shall make the
heart of stone to relent, or the lifeless carcass to feel and
move 1 That God who is able of " stones to raise up
children unto Abraham ;" " that raiseth the dead,"
"and melteth the mountains," and "strikes water out of
the flint ;" that loves to work like himself, beyond the
hopes and belief of man ; that peoplethhis church with
dry bones, and planteth his orchard with dry sticks ; he
is able to do this. Therefore " I bow my knees to the
most high God ;" and as our Savior prayed at the se-
pulchre of Lazarus, and the Shunamite ran to the man
of God for her dead child, so doth your mourning mi-
nister kneel about your graves, and carry you in the
arms of prayer to that God in whom your help is found.

" O thou all-powerful Jehovah, who workest, and
none can hinder thee ! who hast the keys of death and
hell ! pity thou the dead souls that lie here entombed,
and roll away the grave-stone, and say as to the dead
body of Lazarus, Come forth. Lighten thou this dark-
ness, O inaccessible Light, and let the day-spring from

82 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V

on high visit the dark regions of the dead, to whom I
speak ; for thou canst open the eye that death itself
hath closed ; thou that formedst the ear, canst restore
the hearing : say thou to these ears, Ephphatha, and
they shall be opened. Give thou eyes to see thine
excellencies, a taste that may relish thy sweetness, a
scent that may savor thy ointment, a feeling that may
discern the privilege of thy favor, the burden of thy
wrath, the intolerable weight of unpardoned sin ; and
give thy servant an order to prophesy to dry bones,
and let the effects of this prophecy be as of thy pro-
phet when he prophesied the valley of dry bones into
a living army exceeding great." " The hand of the
Lord was upon me, and carried me in the Spirit of the
Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which
was full of bones. He said to me, Prophesy to these
bones, and say to them, O ye dry bones, hear the voice
of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord unto these bones, Be-
hold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall
live ; and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring
up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put
breath in you, and ye shall live ; and ye shall know
that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was com-
manded : and as I prophesied, there was a noise and a
shaking; and the bones came together, bone to his
bone. And when I beheld, lo ! the sinews and flesh
came upon them, and covered them above ; but there
was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Pro-
phesy unto the wind ; prophesy, son of man, and say
to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from
the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain,
that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded
me : and the breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army."

Chap, v.] rra UNCONVERTED. 83

But I must proceed, as I am able, to unfold thai mys-
tery which. I confess, no tongue can um
can sufficiently con: :

Know therefore, that, while thou art unconvei

1. 7

It is no small pai
out Godh' How lei the

Bankes. "Ye have taken away my gods, and
have i . hat a mourning then

to him without 3 urpation! How piercing a

moan is that of S tie Phi-

1 from me!''

lion ] Whitl for help \

yon leave your glory ? V

ines are upon yon; when the worid sha

id your
friends, houses, and land, farewell for evermore I
What v iat have nc I

to ? Will you call ! Will you cry to him for

any notice of yc a

knew you. Depart from :..

- God to gc
God t,

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man c: ve God or i iet me

im, and
I nevei had
fee.
art not oi

84 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V.

not so deeply miserable ; though God should give up
the poor creature to the will of his enemies, to do their
worst with him; though he should deliver him over to
the tormentors, that devils should tear and torture him
to their utmost power and skill, yet this were not half
so fearful. But God will set himself against the sin-
ner; and, believe it, "it is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God." There is no friend like
him, no enemy like him. As much as heaven is above
the earth, omnipotence above impotence, infinity above
nullity ; so much more horrible is it to fall into the
hands of the living God, than into the paws of bears
and lions, yea, furies or devils. God himself will be
thy tormentor; thy destruction shall come from the
presence of the Lord. uTophet is deep and large, the
pile thereof is fire and much wood, and the breath
of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone3 doth kin-
dle it."

"If God be against thee, who shall be for thee? If
one man sin against another, the judge shall judge
him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall
entreat for him ?" " Thou, even thou, art to be feared ;
and who shall stand in thy sight when thou art angry?"
Who or what shall deliver you out of his hands ? Can
mammon? "Kiehes profit not in the day of wrath."
Can kings or warriors ? No ; " They shall cry to the
mountains and rocks to fall on them, and hide them
from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and
from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his
wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand ?"

Sinner ! I think this should go like a dagger to thy
heart, to know that God is thine enemy. O whither
wilt thou go ? where wilt thou shelter thee ? There is
no hope for thee, unless thou lay down thy weapons

Chap. V.J MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 85

and sue out thy pardon, and get Christ to stand thy
friend and make thy peace. If it were not for this,
thou mightest go into some howling wilderness, and
there pine in sorrow, and run mad for anguish of heart
and horrible despair. But in Christ there is a possibil-
ity of mercy for thee, yea, a proffer of mercy to thee,
that thou mayest have God more for thee than he is
now against thee. But if thou wilt not forsake thy
sins, nor turn thoroughly and to some purpose to God,
by a sound conversion, the wrath of God abideth on
thee, and he proclaimeth himself to be against thee, as
in the prophet : " Therefore, thus saith the Lord God,
Behold I, even I, am against thee !"

1. His face is against thee. "The face of the Lord
is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance
of them." Wo unto them whom God shall set his
face against. When he did but look on the host of the
Egyptians, how terrible was the consequence ! " I
will set my face against that man, and will make him
a sign and a proverb, and will cut him off from the
midst of my people ; and ye shall know that I am the
Lord."

2. His heart is against thee. He hateth all the
workers of iniquity. Man, doth not thy heart tremble
to think of thy being an object of God's hatred?
" Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my
mind could not be toward this people: cast them out
of my sight." " My soul loathed them, and their soul
also abhorred me."

3. His hand is against thee. All his attributes are
against thee.

His justice is like a flaming sword unsheathed against
thee : " If I whet my glittering sword, and my hand
take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine

§ Alarm.

86 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V.

adversaries, and will reward them that hate me: I will
make mine arrows drunk with blood," &c.

So exact is justice, that it will by no means clear the
guilty. God will not discharge thee, he will not hold
thee guiltless, but will require the whole debt in person
of thee, unless thou canst make a Scripture claim to
Christ and his satisfaction. When the enlightened
sinner looks on justice, and sees the balance in which
he must be weighed and the sword by which he must
be executed, he feels an earthquake in his breast ; but
Satan keeps this out of sight, and persuades the soul
(while he can) that the Lord is all made up of mercy,
and so lulls it asleep in sin. Divine justice is exact ;
it must have satisfaction to the utmost farthing: it
denounceth "indignation and wrath, tribulation and
anguish, to every soul that doeth evil." It "curseth
every one that continueth not in all things written in
the law to do them." The justice of God to the unpar-
doned sinner that hath a sense of his misery, is more
terrible than the sight of the bailiff or creditor to the
bankrupt debtor, or than the sight of the judge and
bench to the robber, or of the irons and gibbet to the
guilty murderer. When justice sits upon life and
death, what dreadful work doth it make to the wretched
sinner! "Bind him hand and foot; cast him into outer
darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."
This is the terrible sentence that justice pronounceth.
Sinner, by this severe justice must thou be tried ; and
as God liveth, this killing sentence must thou hear
unless thou repent and be converted.

The holiness of God is directly opposed to thee. He
is not only angry with thee, (so he may be with his
children,) but he hath a fixed, rooted, habitual displea-

Chap. V\] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 87

sure against thee. , "He loathes thee." God's nature
is infinitely contrary to sin, and so he cannot delight in
a sinner out of Christ.

O what misery is this, to be out of the favor, yea,
under the hatred of God ; that God, who can as easily
lay aside his nature and cease to be God, as not to be
contrary to thee and detest thee, except thou be changed
and renewed. O sinner, how darest thou to think of
the bright and radiant sun of purity, or the beauties,
the glory of holiness that is in God ! " The stars are
not pure in his sight." " He humbles himself to be-
hold things that are done in heaven." O those light
and sparkling eyes of his ! what do they spy in thee ?
and hast thou no interest in Christ neither, that he
should plead for thee ? I think he should hear thee
crying out (astonished) with the Bethshemites, "Who
is able to stand before this holy Lord God?"

The power of God is mounted like a mighty cannon
against thee. The glory of God's power is to be dis-
played in the wonderful confusion and destruction of
them that obey not the Gospel. He will " make his
power known in them," how mightily he can torment
them. For this end he raiseth them up, " that he might
make his power known." O man, art thou able to
make thy party good with thy Maker ? No more can
a silly reed against the cedars of God, or a little boat
against the rolling ocean, or the children's bubbles
against the blustering winds.

Sinner, the power of God's anger is against thee,
and power and anger together make fearful work; it
were better thou hadst all the world in arms against
thee than to have the power of God against thee.
There is no escaping his hands, no breaking his prison.
" The thunder of his power, who can understand P

88 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V

Unhappy man that shall understand it by feeling it!
" If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him
one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in
strength : who hath hardened himself against him, and
prospered ? which removeth the mountains, and they
know it not ; which overturneth them in his anger ;
which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pil-
lars thereof tremble ; which commandeth the sun, and
it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars! Behold, he
taketh away, who can hinder him ? Who will say
unto him, What doest thou 1 If God will not withdraw
his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.55 And
art thou a fit match for such an antagonist 1 "O con-
sider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces,
and there be none to deliver.55 Submit to mercy ; let
not dust and stubbie stand out against the Almighty ;
set not briars and thorns against him in battle, lest he
go through them, and consume them together; but lay
hold on his strength, that you may " make peace with
him.55 "Wo to him that striveth with his Maker !55

The wisdom of God is set to ruin thee. He hath
ordained his arrows, and prepared instruments of
death, and made all things ready. His counsels are
against thee, to contrive thy destruction. He laughs
to see how thou wilt be taken and ensnared in the evil
day. " The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that
his day is coming.55 He sees how thou wilt come down
mightily in a moment; how thou wilt wring thy hands
and gnash thy teeth for anguish of heart, when thou
seest thou art fallen irremediably into the pit of de-
struction,

The truth of God is sworn against thee. If he be
true and faithful, thou must perish if thou goest on.
Unless he be false to his word, thou must die, except

Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 89

thou repent. If we believe not, yet he abideth faith-
ful; he cannot deny himself; that is, he is faithful
to his threatenings as well as to his promises, and will
show his faithfulness in our confusion, if we believe
not. God hath told thee as plain as it can be spoken,
that " if he wash thee not, thou hast no part in him ;"
that "if thou livest after the flesh, thou shalt die;"
that " except thou be converted, thou shalt in no wise
enter into the kingdom of heaven." Beloved, as the
immutable faithfulness of God in his promise and oath
affords believers strong consolation, so they are to un-
believers for strong consternation and confusion.

O sinner, tell me what dost thou think of all the
threatenings of God's word that stand upon record
against thee ? Dost thou believe they are truth or not?
If not, thou art a wretched infidel. But, if thou dost
believe them, O heart of steel, that thou canst walk up
and down in quiet, when the truth and faithfulness of
God are engaged to destroy thee ! so that, if the Al-
mighty can do it, thou must surely perish. The whole
book of God doth testify against thee while thou re-
mainest unsanctified : it condemns thee in every leaf,
and is to thee like EzekiePs roll, written within and
without with lamentation, and mourning, and wo.
And all this shall surely come upon thee and overtake
thee, except thou repent. "Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but one jot or tittle of this word shall never
pass away."

Now, put all this together, and tell me if the case of
the unconverted be not deplorably miserable. As we
read of some persons that had bound themselves by
an oath and a curse to kill Paul: so thou must know,
O sinner, to thy terror, that all the attributes of an in-
finite God are bound by an oath to punish thee. O
8*

90 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. V.

man, what wilt thou do? whither wilt thou flee? If
God's omniscience can find thee, thou shalt not escape.
If the true and faithful God regard his oath, perish
thou must, except thou believe and repent. If the Al-
mighty hath power to torment thee, thou must be per-
fectly miserable in soul and body to all eternity, unless
it be prevented by speedy conversion.

II. The whole creation of God is against thee.
" The whole creation (saith Paul) groaneth and travail-
eth in pain." But what is it that the creation groan-
eth under ? why, the fearful abuse that it is subject to
in serving the lusts of unsanctified men. And what is
it that the creation groaneth for? why, for freedom
and liberty from this abuse; for the "creature is very
unwillingly subject to this bondage." If the irrational
and inanimate creatures had speech and reason, they
would cry out under it, as a bondage insufferable, to be
abused by the ungodly, contrary to their natures and
the ends that the great Creator made them for. It is a
saying of an eminent divine, ' The liquor that the drunk-
ard drinketh, if it had reason, like a man, to know how
shamefully it is abused, it would groan in the barrel
against him, it would groan in the cup against him,
groan in his throat, in his stomach against him ; it
would fly in his face, if it could speak. And if God
should open the mouths of his creatures, as he did the
mouth of Balaam's ass, the proud man's garment on
his back would groan against him. There is never a
creature, but if it had reason to know how it is abused
till a man be converted, would groan against him : the
land would groan to bear him ; the air would groan to
give him breath ; their houses would groan to lodge
them ; their beds would groan to ease them, their food

Chap. V.J MISERIES OP THE UNCONVERTED. 91

to nourish them, their clothes to cover them, and the
creature would groan to give them any help and com-
fort, so long as they live in sin against God.'

I think this should be a terror to an unconverted
soul, to think he is a burden to the creation : " Cut it
down ; why cumbereth it the ground ?" If inanimate
creatures could but speak, thy food would say, Lord,
must I nourish such a wretch as this, and yield forth
my strength for him to dishonor thee? No, I will
choke him rather, if thou wilt give me permission.
The very air would say, Lord, must I give this man
breath to speak against Heaven, and scorn thy people,
and vent his pride and wrath, and filthy communica-
tion, and utter oaths and blasphemy against thee ? No,
if thou but say the word, he shall be breathless for
me. His poor beast would say, Lord, must I carry
him upon his wicked design ? No, I will break his
bones, I will end his days rather, if I may have leave
from thee. A wicked man ! the earth groans under
him, and hell groans for him, till death satisfies both,
and unburdens the earth. While the Lord of hosts is
against thee, be sure the host of the Lord is against
thee, and all the creatures, as it were, up in arms, till,
upon a man's conversion, the controversy being set-
tled between God and him, he makes a covenant of
peace with the creature for him.

III. The roaring lion, Satan, hath his full power up-
on thee. Thou art led captive by him at his will.
This is the spirit that worketh in the children of diso-
bedience. He is the ruler of the darkness of this
world, that is, of ignorant sinners who live in darkness.
You pity the poor Indians that worship the devil for
their god, but little think it is your own case. Why,

92 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V

it is the common misery of all the unsanctified, that
the devil is their God. Not that they intend to do him
homage; they will be ready to defy him, and him that
should say so of them ; but all this while they serve
him, and live under his government. His servants ye
are to whom ye obey. Rom. 6 : 16. O how many
then will be found the real servants of the devil, that
take themselves for no other than the children of God !
fie can no sooner offer a sinful delight or opportunity
for your unlawful advantage, but you embrace it. If
he suggest a lie, or prompt you to revenge, you readi-
ly obey. If he forbid you to read or pray, you heark-
en to him, and therefore his servants you are. Indeed
he stands behind the curtain, he acts in the dark, and
sinners see not who setteth them on work, but all the
while he leads them. v Doubtless the liar intends not
a service to Satan, but his own advantage ; yet it is he
that stands unobserved and putteth the thing into his
heart. Undoubtedly Judas, when he sold his Master
for money, and the Chaldeans and Sabeans, when they
plundered Job, intended not to do the devil a pleasure,
but to satisfy their own covetous thirst ; yet it was he
that actuated them in their wickedness. Men may be .
very slaves and common drudges for the devil, and
never know it : nay, they may please themselves in
thoughts of liberty.

Art thou yet in ignorance, and not turned from dark-
ness unto light? Why, thou art under the power of
Satan. Dost thou live in the wilful practice of any
known sin ? Know that thou art of the devil. Dost
thou live in strife, or envy, or malice ? Verily he is thy
father. O dreadful case ! However Satan may pro-
vide his slaves with divers pleasures, yet it is but to
draw them into endless perdition. The serpent conies

Chap. V.J MISERIES OF Tkii* UNCONVERTED. 93

with the fruit in his mouth, O but (with Eve) thou
seest not the deadly sting in his tail! He that is now
thy tempter, will one day be thy tormentor. O that I
could but give thee to see how black a master thov
servest, how filthy a drudgery thou dost, how merci-
less a tyrant thou gratifiest ; all whose pleasure is to
set thee on work to make thy perdition and damnation
sure, and to heat the furnace hotter and hotter in which
thou must burn for millions and millions of ages!

IV. The guilt of all thy sins lies like a mountain
upon thee. Poor soul ! thou feelest it not ; but this is
that which seals thy misery upon thee. While un-
converted, none of thy sins are blotted out, they are
all upon the score against thee. Regeneration and re-
mission are never separated ; the unsanctified are un-
questionably unjustified and unpardoned. It is a fear-
ful thing to be in debt, but above all, in God's debt ;
for there is no arrest so formidable as his, no prison so
dreary as his. Look upon an enlightened sinner who
feels the weight of his own guilt : O how frightful are
his looks, how fearful are his complaints ! his comforts
are turned into wormwood, and his moisture into
drought, and his sleep is departed from his eyes. He
is a terror to himself and all that are about him, and is
ready to envy the very stones that lie in the street, be-
cause they are senseless and feel not his misery, and
wisheth he had been a dog, or a toad, or a serpent,
rather than a man, because then death had put an end
to his misery ; whereas now it will be but the begin-
ning of that which will know no ending.

How light soever you may make it now, you will
one day find the guilt of unpardoned sin to be a heavy
burden. This is a mill-stone, that "whosoever falleth

94 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V

upon it shall be broken; but upon whomsoever it shall
fall, it shall grind him to powder." The guilt of our
sins caused the agony and death of the blessed Savior.
And if it did this in the green tree, what will it do in
the dry?

O think of thy case in time ! Canst thou think of
that threat without trembling, "Ye shall die in your
sins?" 0, better were it for thee to die in a jail, in a
ditch, in a dungeon, than die in thy sins ! If death, as
it will take away all thy comforts, would take away
thy sins too, it were some mitigation ; but thy sins will
follow thee when thy friends leave thee, and all worldly
enjoyments shake hands with thee. Thy sins will not
die with thee as a prisoner's other debts will ; but they
will go to judgment with thee, there to be thy accusers ;
and they will go to hell with thee, there to be thy tor-
mentors. Better to have so many fiends and furies
about thee, than thy sins to fall upon thee and fasten
on thee. O the work that these will make thee ! O
look over thy debts in time, how much thou art in the
books of every one of God's laws ; how every one of
God's commandments is ready to arrest thee, and take
thee by the throat for the innumerable bonds it hath
upon thee ! What wilt thou do then, when they shall
all together come in against thee? Hold open the
eyes of thy conscience to consider this, that thou may-
est despair of thyself and be driven to Christ, and flee
for refuge to "lay hold on the hope that is set before
thee."

V. Thy raging lusts do miserably enslave thee.
While unconverted, thou art a very servant to sin : it
reigns over thee, and holds thee under its dominion,
till thou art brought within the bonds of God's cove-

Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 95

nant. There is not such another tyrant as sin. O the
filthy and fearful work that it doth engage its ser-
vants in !

Would it not pierce thy heart to see a company of
poor creatures drudging and toiling to carry together
fagots and fuel for their own burning 1 This is the
employment of sin's drudges. Even while they bless
themselves in their unrighteous gains, while they sing
in pleasures, they are but treasuring up vengeance for
their eternal burning ; they are but adding to the pile
of Tophet, and flinging in oil to make the flame rage
the fiercer. Who would serve such a master, whose
work is drudgery, whose wages are death?

What a woful spectacle was the poor wretch pos-
sessed with the legion! Would it not have grieved
thy heart to have seen him among the tombs cutting
and wounding himself? This is thy case ; such is thy
work; every stroke is a thrust at thy heart. Con-
science indeed is now asleep; but, when death and
judgment shall bring thee to thy senses, then wilt thou
feel the anguish in every wound. The convinced sin-
ner is a sensible instance of the miserable bondage of
sin : conscience flies upon him, and tells him the end
of these things ; and yet such a slave he is to his lusts
that on he goes, though he sees it will be his perdition •
when the temptation comes, lust breaks the cords of all
liis vows and promises, and carries him headlong to
his own destruction.

YI. The furnace of eternal vengeance is heated ready
for thee. Hell and destruction open their mouths upon
thee ; they gape for thee ; they groan for thee, Isa. 5 :
14; waiting as it were with a greedy eye as thou
standee on the brink. If the wrath of men be " as the

ytf MISERIES OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V.

roaring of a lion," " more heavy than the sands," what
is the wrath of the infinite God ! If the burning fur-
nace heated in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery rage, when he
commanded it to be made yet seven times hotter, was
so fierce as to burn up even those that drew near to
throw the three children in, how hot is that burning ot
the Almighty's fury ! Surely this is seventy times se-
ven more fierce. What thinkest thou, O man, of be-
ing a fagot in hell to all eternity ? " Can thine heart
endure, or can thine hands be strong in the day that I
shall deal with thee ? saith the Lord of hosts." Canst
thou abide the everlasting burnings ? Canst thou dwell
with consuming fire ? when thou shalt be as glowing
iron in hell, and thy whole body and soul shall be as
perfectly possessed by God's burning vengeance as the
sparkling iron with fire, when heated in the fiercest
furnace ? Thou canst not bear God's whip ; how then
wilt thou endure his scorpions 1 Thou art even crush-
ed, and ready to wish thyself dead, under the weight
of his finger, how then wilt thou bear the weight of his
heavy arm 1 Some of the choicest servants of God,
when under the hidings of his face, and dreading the
effects of his displeasure, have bewailed their condi-
tion with bitter lamentations. How then wilt thou en-
dure when God shall pour out all his vials, and set him-
self against thee, to torment thee? when he shall make
thy conscience the tunnel by which he will be pouring
his burning wrath into thy soul for ever, and when he
shall fill all thy pores as full of torment as they are
now full of sin ; when immortality shall be thy misery,
and to die the death of a brute, and be swallowed in
the gulf of annihilation, shall be such a felicity as the
whole eternity of wishes and an ocean of tears shall
never purchase ?

Chap- V.J MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 97

Now thou canst put off the evil day, and laugh and
be merry, and forget " the terror of the Lord." But how
wilt thou hold out, or hold up, when God will cast
thee into a " bed of torments," and make thee to " lie
down in sorrow ?" when roarings and blasphemies shall
be thy only music, and the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of
his indignation, shall be thy only drink? and when
thou shalt draw in flames for thy breath ? in a word,
when the smoke of thy torment shall ascend for ever
and ever, and thou shalt have no rest day nor night, no
rest in thy conscience, no ease in thy bones ; but thou
shalt be an execration and astonishment, and a curse
and a reproach! for evermore? Jer. 42 : 18.

O sinner ! stop here, and consider. If thou art a man,
and not a senseless block, consider. Bethink thyself
where thou standest — why, upon the very brink of
this furnace. As the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth,
there is but a step between thee and this. Thou know-
est not, when thou liest down, but thou mayest be in
hell before morning : thou knowest not, when thou
risest, but thou mayest drop in before night. Barest
thou make light of this? Wilt thou go on in such a
dreadful condition, as if nothing ailed thee ? If thou
puttest it off, and sayest, " This doth not belong to
thee," look again over the foregoing chapter, and tell
me the truth. Are none of those black marks found
upon thee? Do not blind thine eyes; do not deceive
thyself; see thy misery while thou mayest prevent it.
Think what it is to be a vile outcast, a lost reprobate,
a vessel of wrath, into which the Lord will be pouring
o.it his tormenting fury while he hath a being.

Divine wrath is a fierce, devouring, everlasting, un-
quenchable fire3 and thy soul and body must be the

9 41arui.

98 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V

fuel upon which it must be feeding for ever, unless
thou consider thy ways, and speedily turn to the Lord
by a sound conversion. They that have been singed
by this fire, and had but the smell thereof passing upon
them before they died, O what amazing spectacles
they have been ! Whose heart would not have melted
to have heard Spira's outcries ? — to have seen Chalo-
ner, that monument of justice, worn to skin and bone,
blaspheming the God of heaven, cursing himself, and
continually crying out, " 0 torture, torture, torture !
O torture, torture I" as if the flames of wrath had already
taken hold en him ? — to have heard Rogers crying out,
"' I have had a little pleasure, but now I must have hell
for evermore!" wishing but for this mitigation, that
God would but let him lie burning for ever behind the
back of that fire, (on the hearth,) and bringing in his
sad conclusion still, at the end of whatever was spoken
to him to afford him some hope, " I must go to hell, I
must go to hell, I must go to the furnace of hell, for
millions and millions of ages i" O ! if the fears and
forethoughts of the wrath to come be so terrible, so in-
tolerable, what must be the feeling of it ?

Sinner, it is in vain to flatter you : this would be but
to draw you into the unquenchable fire. Know ye
from the living God, that here you must lie; with
these burnings you must dwell till immortality die
and immutability change, till eternity run out and om-
nipotence is no longer able to punish, except you be in
good earnest renewed throughout by sanctifying grace.

VII. The law discharges all its threats and curses at
thee. O how dreadfully doth it thunder ! It flashes de-
vouring five in thy face. Its words are as drawn swords,
and as the sharp arrows of the mighty. It demands sa-

Chap V.J MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 99

tlsfaction to the utmost, and cries, Justice ! Justice ! It
speaks blood, and war, and wounds, and death, against
thee.

Read Deuteronomy. O man, away to thy strong
hold j away from thy sins ; haste to the sanctuary, the
city of refuge — even the Lord Jesus Christ ; hide thee
in him, or else thou art lost, without any hope of re
covery.

VIII. The Gospel itself bindeth the sentence of eter-
nal damnation upon thee. If thou continuest in thine
impenitent and unconverted state, know that the Gos-
pel denounceth a much sorer condemnation than ever
would have been for the transgression only of the first
covenant. Is it not a dreadful case to have the Gospel
itself fill its mouth with threats, thunder, and damna-
tion? " To have the Lord to roar from mount Zion
against thee ?" " Hear the terror of the Lord. He that
believeth not shall be damned. Except ye repent, ye
shall all perish." " This is the condemnation, that light
is come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light." " He that believeth not, the wrath of God
abideth on him." " If the word spoken by angels was
steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience re-
ceived a just recompense of reward, how shall we es-
cape if we neglect so great salvation ?" " He that des-
pised Moses' law died without mercy : of how much
sorer punishment sball he be thought worthy that hath
trodden under foot the Son of God?"

Application. — And is this true indeed ? Is this thy
misery? Yea, it is as true as God is. Better open thine
eyes and see it now, while thou mayest remedy it, than
blind and harden thyself till (to thy eternal sorrow)
thou shalt feel what thou wouldst not believe; and if

100 MISERIES OP THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V.

it be true, what dost tliou mean, to loiter and linger in
such a case as this ?

Alas for thee, poor man ! how effectually hath sin
undone thee, and deprived and despoiled thee even of
thy reason to look after thine own everlasting good !
O miserable wretch I what stupidity and senselessness
have surprised thee ! O let me knock up and awake
this sleeper ! Who dwells within the walls of this
flesh? Is there ever a soul here, a rational, under-
standing soul? or art thou only a senseless lump?

Art thou a reasonable soul, and yet so far brutified
as to forget that thou art immortal, and to think thyself
to be as the beasts that perish ? Art thou turned into
flesh, that thou savorest nothing but gratifying the
sense, and making provision for the flesh? or else,
having reason to understand the eternity of the future
state, dost thou yet make light of being everlastingly
miserable, which is to be so much below the brute, as
it is worse to act against reason than to act without it ?
O unhappy soul, that wast the glory of man, the com-
panion of angels, and the image of God ! that wast
God's representative in the world, and hadst the su-
premacy amongst the creatures, and the dominion over
thy Maker's works ! art thou now become a slave to
sense, a servant to so base an idol as thy belly, pam-
pering a vile body that must soon be food for worms?
or art thou heaping together a little refined earth, no
more suitable to thy spiritual immortal nature than the
dirt and sticks ? O why dost thou not bethink thee
where thou shalt be for ever ? Death is at hand ; " the
J iidge is even at the door." Yet a little while, and
" time shall be no longer." And wilt thou run the
hazard of continuing in such a state, in which, if thou
be overtaken, thou art irrecoverably miserable?

Chap. V.] MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. 101

Come then, arise, and attend thy nearest concern-
ments ! Tell me whither art thou going ? What ! wilt
thou live in such a course, wherein every act is a step
to perdition ; and thou dost not know but the next night
thou mayest make thy bed in hell ? O ! if thou hast a
spark of reason, consider, and turn and hearken to thy
true friend, who would show thee thy present misery,
that thou mightest in time make thine escape, and be
eternally happy.

Hear what the Lord saith : " Fear ye not me? saith
the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence?13 O
sinners, do you make light of " the wrath to come VJ
I am sure there is a time coming when you will not
make light of it. Why, the very " devils believe and
tremble." What ! are you more hardened than they ?
Will you run upon the edge of the rock? Will you
play at the hole of the asp ? Will you put your hand
upon the cockatrice's den? Will you dance upon the
fire till you are burnt, or dally with devouring wrath as
if you were indifferent whether you escape or endure
it? O madness of folly! like that of a madman that
casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, and saith, " Am
not I in sport !" There is no one so insane as the wil-
ful sinner, that goeth on in his unconverted state with-
out sense, as if nothing ailed him. The man that runs
"into the cannon's mouth, and sports with his blood, or
lets out his life in a frolic, is sensible, sober, and serious,
compared with him that goeth on still in his trespasses ;
for "he stretcheth out his hand against God, and
strengtheneth himself against the Almighty : he run-
neth upon him, even upon his neck, upon the thick
bosses of his buckler." Is it wisdom to sport with the
second death, or to venture into the lake that burnetii
with fire and brimstone, as if thou wert but going to

102 MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. V

wash thee, or swim for recreation ? Wilt thou, as it
were, jump into eternal flames, as the children through
the bonfire 1 What shall I say ? I can find out no ex-
pression, no comparison, whereby to set forth the
dreadful madness of the soul that will go on in sin.

Awake, awake ! O sinner, arise and take thy flight.
There is but one door that thou mayest flee by, and
that is the strait door of conversion and the new birth.
Unless thou turn unfeignedly from all thy sins, and
come to Jesus Christ, and take him for the Lord thy
righteousness, and walk in him in holiness and new-
ness of life ; as the Lord liveth, it is not more certain
that thou art now out of hell, than that thou shalt with-
out fail be in it but a few days or nights hence. O set
thy heart to think of thy case. Is not thy everlasting
misery or welfare that which doth deserve a little
consideration 1 Look again over the miseries of the
unconverted. If the Lord hath not spoken by me, re-
gard me not ; but if it be the very word of God that all
this misery lies upon thee, what a case art thou in ! Is
it for one that hath his senses to live in such a condi-
tion, and not to make all possible expedition for pre-
venting his utter ruin ? O man, who hath bewitched
thee, Gal. 3 : 1, that in the matters of this present life
thou shalt be wise enough to forecast thy business,
foresee thy danger, and prevent thy ruin; but in mat-
ters of everlasting consequence be slight and careless,
as if they little concerned thee? Why, is it nothing
to thee to have all the attributes of God engaged against
thee? Canst thou do well without his favor? Canst
thou escape his hands, or endure his vengeance ? Dost
thou hear the creation groaning under thee, and hell
groaning for thee, and yet think thy case good enough?
Art thou under the power of corruption, in the dark

Chap. V.) MISERIES OF THE UNCONVERTED, 103

noisome prison, fettered with lusts, working out thy
own damnation — and is not this worth a thought?

Wilt thou make light of all the terrors of the law, of
all its curses and thunderbolts, as if they were but the
threatenings of a child ? Dost thou laugh at hell and
destruction, or canst thou drink the envenomed cup of
the Almighty's fury, as if it were but a common po-
tion?

Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand
of thee, and answer thou me. Art thou such a leviathan
as that the scales of thy pride should keep thee from
thy Maker's coming at thee ? Wilt thou esteem his
arrows as straw, and the instruments of death as rotten
wood? Art thou chief of all the children of pride, even
that thou shouldst count his darts as stubble, and laugh
at the shaking of his spear ? Art thou made without
fear, and contemnest thou his barbed arrows? Art
thou like the horse that paweth in the valley and re-
joiceth in his strength, who goeth out to meet the armed
men? Dost thou mock at fear, and art thou not af-
frighted, neither turnest back from God's sword when
his quiver rattleth against thee, the glittering spear and
the shield? Well, if the threats and caJs of the word
will not fright thee nor awaken thee, I am sure death
and judgment will. O what wilt thou do when the
Lord cometh forth against thee, and in his fury falleth
upon thee, and thou shalt feel what thou readest? If
when Daniel's enemies were cast into the den of lions,
both they and their wives and their children, the lions
had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in
pieces ere they came at the bottom of the den, Dan. 6 :
24, what shall become of thee when thou fallest into
the hands of the living God, when he shall gripe thee in
his strong arms, and grind and crush thee in his wrath ?

104 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. VI.

0 do not then contend with God. " Repent and
be converted," so none of this shall come upon thee
" Seek ye the Lord while he may be found ; call ye
upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and
let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy
upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly par-
don."

CHAPTER VI.

CONTAINING DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED.

And there came one, and kneeled io him, and ashed Mm, Good
Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Mark, 10 : 17.

Before thou readest these directions, I advise thee,
yea, I charge thee, before God and his holy angels,
that thou resolve to follow them, (as far as conscience
shall be convinced of their agreeableness to God's
word and thy state,) and call in his assistance and
blessing that they may succeed. And as I have sought
the Lord and consulted his oracles what advice to give
thee, so must thou entertain it with that awe, reverence,
and purpose of obedience which the word of the liv-
ing God requires.

Now then, attend : " Set your heart unto all that I shall
testify unto you this day ; for it is not a vain thing — it
is your life." This is the end of all that has been spo-
ken hitherto, to bring you to set your heart to this
great work and turn without delay to the living God.
I would not trouble you, nor "torment you before the
time/- with the thoughts of your eternal misery, but

Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 105

in order to your making your escape. Were you shut
up under your present misery without remedy, it were
but mercy (as one speaks) to let you alone, that you
might take in that little poor comfort which you are
capable of in this world ; but you may yet be happy,
if you do not wilfully refuse the means of your re-
covery. Behold, I hold open the door to you , arise,
take your flight; I set the way of life before you; walk
in it, and you shall live, and not die. It grieves me to
think you should be your own murderers, and throw
yourselves headlong, when God and man cry out to
you, as Peter in another case to his Master, " Spare
thyself."

The destruction of ungodly men is wilful. God
that made them crieth out to them, as Paul to the dis-
tracted jailor when about-to. murder himself, "Do thy-
self no harm." The ministers of Christ forewarn them,
and follow them, and would gladly have them back ;
but alas ! no expostulations or entreaties will prevail,
but men will hurl themselves into perdition, while pity
itself looketh on.

What shall I say ? Would it not grieve a person of
any humanity, if, in the time of a raging plague, he
should have a remedy (as one said well) that would
infallibly cure all the country and recover the most
hopeless patients, and yet his friends and neighbors
should die by hundreds about him, because they would
not use it ? Men and brethren, though you carry the
certain symptoms of death in your faces, yet I have a
receipt that will cure you all infallibly. Follow but
these directions, and if you do not then reach heaven,
I will be content to lose it.

Hear then, O sinner ! and as ever thou wouldst be
converted and saved, embrace this following counsel.

LOG DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [ Chap. VI.

I. Attend conscientiously upon the word, as the
means appointed for thy conversion. Attend, I say,
not customarily, but conscientiously ; with this desire,
design, hope, and expectation, that thoumayestbe con-
verted by it. To every sermon thou nearest come with
this thought ; ' O I hope God will now come in ; I hope
this day may be the time, this may be the man by
whom God will bring me home.' When thou art
coming to the privileges of God's house, lift up thy
heart thus to God: "Lord, let this be the Sabbath, let
this be the season wherein I may receive renewing
grace. O let it be said that this day such a one was
born unto thee."

Object. Thou wilt say, I have been long a hearer of
the word, and yet it hath not been effectual to my con-
version. Ans. Yea; but thou hast not attended upon
it in this manner, nor resolved to receive it into thine
heart, and obey all the words which the Lord your
God should speak unto you.

II. Set upon the constant and diligent use of serious
and fervent prayer. He that neglects prayer is a pro-
fane and unsanctified sinner. He that is not constant
in prayer is but a hypocrite, unless the omission be
contrary to his ordinary course, under the force of
some instant temptation. This is one of the first
things conversion appears in, that it sets men a pray-
ing, Therefore set to this duty ; let not one day pass
over thee wherein thou hast not morning and evening,
set apart some time for set and solemn prayer in secret.
Call thy family also together daily and duly to wor-
ship God with thee. Wo be unto thee, if thou be
found among the families that call not upon God's
name. But cold and lifeless devotions will not reach
half way to heaven. Be fervent and importunate.

Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 107

Importunity will carry it; but without violence the
kingdom of heaven will not be taken. Thou must
strive to enter, and wrestle with tears and supplica-
tions, as Jacob, if thou meanest to carry the blessing.
Thou art undone for ever without grace, and therefore
thou must set to it, and resolve to take no denial. That
man who is fixed in this resolution says: 'Weil, I must
have grace, or I will never give over till I have grace ;
I will never cease earnestly pleading, and striving with
God and my own heart, till he doth renew me by the
power of his grace.'

III. Forsake thy evil company, and forbear the occa-
sions of sin.

Thou wilt never be turned from sin till thou wilt de-
cline and forego the temptations of sin. I never ex-
pect thy conversion from sin, unless thou art brought
to some self-denial, so as to flee the occasions. If thou
wilt be nibbling at the bait, and playing on the brink,
and tampering and meddling with the snare, thy soul
will surely be taken. W^here God doth expose men,
in his providence, unavoidably to temptation, and the
occasions are such as we cannot remove, we may ex-
pect special assistance in the use of his means j but
when we tempt God by running into danger, he will
not engage to support us when we are tempted. And,
of ail temptations, one of the most fatal and pernicious
is evil companions. O what hopeful beginnings have
these often stifled ! O the souls, the estates, the fami-
lies, the towns, that these have ruined ! How many
poor sinners have been enlightened and convinced
and been just ready to give the devil the slip, and have
even escaped the snare ; and yet wicked company has
pulled them back at last, and made them seven-fold
more the children of hell ? In a word, I have no hopes

108 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. j Chap. Vh

of thee, except thou wilt shake off thy evil company.
Thy life depends upon it : forsake this, or else thou
canst not live. Wilt thou be worse than the beast, to
run on when thou seest the Lord with a drawn sword
in the way ? Let this sentence be written in capitals
upon thy conscience: "a companion of fools shall
be destroyed." The Lord hath spoken it, and who
shall reverse it 1

And wilt thou run upon destruction, when God him-
self doth forewarn thee? If God doth ever change
thy heart, it will appear in the change of thy company.
O fear and flee the gulf by which so many thousand
souls have been swallowed up in perdition. It will he
hard for thee indeed to make thy escape. Thy com-
panions will be mocking thee out of thy religion, and
will study to fill thee with prejudices against strictness,
as ridiculous and comfortless. They will be flattering
thee and alluring thee ; but remember the warnings ot
the Holy Ghost, "My son, if sinners entice thee, con-
sent thou not. If they say, Come with us, cast in thy
lot among us ; walk thou not in the way with them,
refrain thy foot from their path \ avoid it, pass not by
it, turn from it, and pass away. For the way of the
wicked is as darkness, they know not at what they
stumble. They lie in wait for their own blood, they
lurk privily for their own lives." My soul is moved
within me to see how many of my hearers and read-
ers are likely to perish, both they and their houses, by
this wretched mischief, even the haunting of such pla-
ces and company, whereby they are drawn into sin.
Once more I admonish you, as Moses did Israel. "And
he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray
you, from the tents of these wicked men." 0 flee them
as you would those that had the plague-sores running

Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. ]09

in their foreheads. These are the devil's panders and
decoys ; and if thou dost not make thy escape they
will draw thee into perdition, and will prove thy eter-
nal ruin.

IV. Set apart a day to humble thy soul in secret by
fasting and prayer, to work a sense of thy sins and
miseries upon thy heart.

Read over our Lord's discourse, Matt. 5, and write
down the duties omitted and sins committed by thee
against every commandment, and so make a catalogue
of thy sins, and with shame and sorrow spread them
before the Lord.

V. Strike in with the Spirit when he begins to work
upon thy heart. When he works convictions, O do not
stifle them, but join in with him, and beg the Lord to
give you saving conversion. "Quench not the Spi-
rit;" do not reject him, do not resist him. Beware of
putting out convictions with evil company or worldly
business. When thou art in anguish on account of
sin, and fears about thy eternal state, beg of God that
you may have peace only in thoroughly renouncing all
sin, loathing it in thy inmost soul, and giving thy
whole heart, without reserve, to Christ. Say to him,
"Strike home, Lord; leave not the work in the midst.
Show me all my guilt, so far as nature can bear it. O
go to the bottom of my corruption, and let out the
life-blood of my sins." Thus yield up thyself to the
working of the Spirit, and hoist thy sails to his gusts.

VI. Set it down with thyself as an undoubted truth,
that it is impossible for thee ever to get to heaven in
this thy unconverted state.

Can any other but Christ save thee? and he tells
thee he will never do it except thou be regenerated and
10

Alarm.

110 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI,

converted. Doth he not keep the keys of heaven ? and
canst thou go in without his leave? as thou must, if
ever thou come thither in thy natural condition, with-
out a sound and thorough renovation.

VII. Labor to get a thorough sight and lively sense
and feeling of thy sins.

Till men are weary and heavy laden, and pricked at
the heart, and quite sick of sin, they will not come to
Christ, in his way, for cure, nor to purpose inquire,
"What shall we do?" They must set themselves
down for dead men, before they will come unto Christ
that they may have life. Labor, therefore, to set all
thy sins in order before thee ; never be afraid to look
upon them, but let thy spirit make diligent search.
Inquire into thine heart, and into thy life ; enter into
a thorough examination of thyself and all thy ways,
that thou mayest make a full discovery ; and call in
the help of God's Spirit, in the sense of thine own ina-
bility hereunto, for it is his proper work to convince
of sin. Spread all before thy conscience, till thy heart
and eyes be set weeping. Leave not striving with God
and thine own soul, till it cry out under the sense of
thy sins, as the enlightened jailor, "What must I do to
be saved V* To this purpose,

Meditate on the number of thy sins. David's heart
failed when he thought of this, and considered that he
had more sins than hairs on his head. This made him
cry ^ut upon the multitude of God's tender mercies.
An unsanctified soul swarms with filthy lusts: they
fill the head, the heart, the eyes, the mouth. Look
backward ; where was ever the place, what was ever
the time, in which thou didst not sin ? Look inward ;
what part or power canst thou find in soul or body but
it is poisoned with sin ? what duty dost thou ever per

Chap. VI.] DIRECTI0N3 TO THE UNCONVERTED. Ill

form, into which this poison is not shed ? O how great
is the sum of thy debts, who hast been all thy life run-
ning upon trust, and never didst or canst pay off one
penny ! Look over the sin of thy nature, and all its
cursed brood, the sins of thy life. Call to mind thy
omissions and commissions ; the sins of thy thoughts,
words, and actions ; the sins of thy youth, and the sins
of thy riper years. Be not like a desperate bankrupt,
that is afraid to look over his books. Read the records
of conscience carefully. These books must be opened
sooner or later.

Meditate on the aggravations of thy sins, as they are
the grand enemies of the God of thy life, and of the
life of thy soul : in a word, they are the public enemies
of all mankind. How do David, Ezra, Daniel, and the
good Levites, aggravate their sins, from the considera-
tion of their rebellion against God, their opposition to
his good and righteous laws, and the mercies and
warnings they were committed against ! O the work
that sin has made in the world ! This is the enemy
that has brought in death ; that has robbed and en-
slaved man ; that has done the work of the devil, and
digged hell. This is the enemy that has turned the
world upside down, and sown dissensions between man
and the creatures, betwixt man and man, yea, between
man and himself, setting the animal part against the
rational, the will against the judgment, lust against
conscience ; yea, worst of all, between God and man,
making the sinner both hateful to God and the hater
of himself. O man! how canst thou make so light of
sin ? This is the traitor that thirsted for the blood ot
the Son of God, that sold him, that mocked him, that
scourged him, that spit in his face, that tore his hands,
that pierced his side, that pressed his soul, that man-

112 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI.

gled his body, that never left till he had bound him,
condemned him, nailed him, crucified him, and put
him to an open shame. This is that deadly poison, so
powerful of operation that one drop of it, shed on the
root of mankind, has corrupted, spoiled, poisoned, and
ruined his whole race. This the bloody executioner
that has killed the prophets, burnt the martyrs, mur-
dered all the apostles, all the patriarchs, all the kings
and potentates ; that has destroyed cities, swallowed
empires, butchered and devoured whole nations. What-
ever was the weapon it was done by, it was sin that
caused the execution. Dost thou yet think it but a
small thing ? If Adam and all his children could be
dug out of their graves, and their bodies piled up to
heaven, and an inquest were made what matchless
murderer were guilty of all this blood ; it would be all
found in sin. Study the nature of sin, till thy heart
incline to fear and loathe it ; and meditate on the ag-
gravations of thy particular sins, how thou hast sinned
against all God's warnings, against thy own prayers,
against mercies, against corrections, against clearest
light, against freest love, against thine own resolutions,
against promises, vows, and covenants of better obe-
dience. Charge thy heart home with these things till
it blush for shame, and be brought out of all good
opinion of itself.

Meditate on the desert of sin. It crieth up to Hea-
ven ; it calls for vengeance. Its due wages are death
and damnation ; it draws the curse of God upon the
soul and body. The least sinful word or thought lays
thee under the infinite wrath of God. O what a load
of wrath, what a weight of curses, what treasures of
vengeance, have all the millions of thy sins deserved !
O judge thyself that the Lord may not judge thee.

Chap. VL] directions to the unconverted. 113

Meditate on the deformity and defilement of sin. It
is as black as hell, the very image and likeness of the
devil drawn upon the soul. 1 John, 3 : 8, 10. It would
affright thee to see thyself in the hateful deformity of
thy nature. There is no mire so unclean, no plague or
leprosy so noisome as sin, in which thou art plunged
and covered with its odious filth, whereby thou art
rendered more displeasing to the pure and holy nature
of the glorious God than the most filthy object, com-
posed of whatever is hateful to all thy senses, can be
to thee. Couldst thou take up a toad into thy bosom ?
Couldst thou cherish it, and take delight in it ? Why,
thou art as contrary to the pure and perfect holiness
of the divine nature, and as loathsome as that is to
thee, till thou art purified by the blood of Jesus and
the power of renewing grace.

Above all other sins, fix the eye of consideration on
these two. 1. The sin of thy heart, it is to little
purpose to lop off the branches while the root of cor-
ruption remains untouched. In vain do me\i lave out
the streams, when the fountain is running that fills up
all again. Let the axe of thy repentance (with Da-
vid's) go to the root of sin. Study how deep, how
close, how permanent is thy natural pollution, how
universal it is, till thou dost cry out, with Paul, upon
thy body as dead.

Look into all thy parts and powers, and see what
unclean vessels, what sinks they are become. The
heart is never soundly broken till thoroughly con-
vinced of the heinousness of its original and deep-
rooted depravity. Here fix thy thoughts ; this is that
which makes thee backward to all good, and prone to
all evil. That sheds blindness, pride, prejudice, and
unbelief into thy mind ; enmity inconstancy, and ob-
10*

114 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap VI.

stinacy into thy will ; inordinate heats and colds into
thy affections ; insensibleness and unfaithfulness into
thy conscience ; slipperiness into thy memory ; and, in
a word, hath put every wheel of the soul out of order,
and made it, of a habitation of holiness, to become a
very hell of iniquity. This is what hath defiled and
perverted all thy members, and turned them into wea-
pons of unrighteousness, and servants of sin ; that hath
filled the head with carnal and corrupt designs ; the
hand with sinful practices ; the eyes with wandering
and wantonness ; the tongue with deadly poison ; that
hath opened the ears to tales, flattery, and filthy com-
munication, and shut them against the instructions of
life; and hath rendered thy heart the cursed source of
all deadly imaginations, so that it poureth out its wick-
edness without ceasing even as naturally as a fountain
doth pour forth its waters, or the raging sea doth cast
forth mire and dirt. And wilt thou yet be in love with
thyself, and tell us any longer of thy good heart ? O
never leave meditating on the desperate contagion, the
original corruption of thy heart, till, with Ephraim,
thou bemoan thyself; and with the deepest shame and
sorrow smite on thy breast, as the Publican; and,
with Job, abhor thyself, and repent in dust and ashes.
2. The particular evil that thou art most addicted to:
find out all its aggravations, set home upon thy heart
all God's threats against it ; repentance drives before it
the whole herd, but especially sticks the arrow in the
beloved sin, and singles this out above the rest, to run
it down. O labor to make this sin odious to thy soul,
and double thy guard and resolutions against it, be-
cause this doth most dishonor God and endanger thee.
VIII. Str've to affect thy heart with a deep sense of
thy present misery. Read over the foregoing chapter

Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 115

again and again, and get it out of the book into thy
heart. Remember, when thou liest down, that, for
aught thou knowest, thou mayest awake in flames; and
when thou risest up, that by the next night thou may-
est make thy bed in hell. Is it a just matter to live in
such a fearful case, to stand tottering on the brink of
the bottomless pit ; and to live at the mercy of every
disease, that, if it but fall upon thee, will send thee
forthwith into the burnings ? Suppose thou sawest a
condemned wretch hanging over Nebuchadnezzar's
burning fiery furnace by nothing but a thread which
was ready to break every moment, would not thy
heart tremble for such a one ? Why, thou art the man :
this is thy very case, O man, woman, that readest this,
if thou be yet unconverted. What if the thread of thy
life should break, (why, thou knowest not but it may
be the next night, yea, the next moment,) where
wouldst thou be then? Whither wouldst thou drop?
Verily, upon the breaking of this thread, thou fallest
into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, where
thou must lie scalding and burning in a fiery ocean
while God hath a being, if thou die in thy present
case. x\nd doth not thy soul tremble as thou readest ? *
Do not thy tears bedew the paper, and thy heart throb
in thy bosom ? Dost thou not yet begin to smite on thy
breast, and bethink thyself what need thou hast of a
change ? O what is thy heart made of? Hast thou
not only lost all regard to God, but hast thou lost all
love and pity to thyself?

O study thy misery till thy heart cry out for Christ
as earnestly as ever a drowning man did for a boat, or
the wounded for a surgeon. Men must come to see
the danger and feel the smart of their deadly sores and
sickness, or else Christ will be to them a physician of

tlG DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI.

no value. Then the manslayer hastens to the city of
refuge when pursued by the avenger of blood. Men
must be even forced and driven out of themselves, or
else they will not come to Christ. It was distress and
extremity that made the prodigal think of returning.
While Laodicea thinks herself rich, increased in goods,
in need of nothing, there is little hope. She must be
deeply convinced of her wretchedness, blindness, po-
verty, and nakedness, before she will come to Christ
for his gold, raiment, and eye-salve. Therefore hold
the eyes of conscience open, amplify thy misery as
much as possible, do not flee the sight of it, for fear it
should fill thee with terror. The sense of thy misery
is but as it were the suppuration of the wound, which
is necessary to the cure. Better now to fear the tor-
ments that abide thee, than to feel them hereafter.

IX. Settle it upon thy heart that thou must look out
of thyself and away from thy own doings for help.

Never think thy praying, reading, hearing, confess-
ing, or amending will do the cure ; these must be at-
tended to, but thou art undone if thou rest in them;
thou art a last man if thou hope to escape drowning
on any other plank but Jesus Christ. Thou must un-
learn thyself, and renounce thine own wisdom, thine
own righteousness, thine own strength, and throw thy-
self wholly upon Christ, as a man that swims casts
himself upon the water, or else thou canst not escape
While men trust in themselves, and establish their own
righteousness, and have confidence in the flesh, they
will not come savingly to Christ. Thou must know
thy gain to be but loss and dung, thy strength but
weakness, thy righteousness rags and rottenness, be-
fore there will be an effectual closure between Christ
and thee. Can the lifeless corpse shake off its grave-

Chap. VI.] DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 117

clothes, and loose the bands of death ? Then mayest
thou recover thyself, who art dead in trespasses and
sins, and under an impossibility of serving thy Maker
acceptably in this condition. Therefore, when thou
goest to pray or meditate, or to do any of the duties to
which thou art here directed, go out of thyself, call in
the help of the Spirit, as despairing to do any thing
pleasing to God in thine own strength; yet neglect
not duty, put thyself in the way of the Spirit. While
the eunuch was reading, then the Holy Ghost did send
Philip to him. When the disciples were praying, when
Cornelius and his friends were hearing, then the Holv
Ghost fell upon them and filled them all.

X. Forthwith renounce all thy sins.

If, on the contrary, thou yield thyself to the practice
of any sin, thou art undone. In vain dost thou hope
for life by Christ, except thou depart from iniquity.
Forsake thy sins, or else thou canst not find mercy.
Thou canst not be married to Christ except divorced
from sin. Give up the traitor, or you can have no
peace in heaven. Cast the head of Sheba over the
wall : keep not Delilah in thy lap. Thou must part
with thy sins or with thy soul; spare but one sin and
God will not spare thee. Never make excuses ; thy
sins must die, or thou must die for them. If thou al-
low of one sin, though but a little, a secret one — though
thou mayest plead necessity, and have a hundred shifts
and excuses for it, the life of thy soul must go for the
life of that sin. And will it not be dearly bought?

O sinner 1 hear and consider-: if thou wilt part with
thy sins God will give thee his Christ. Is not this a
fair exchange 1 I testify unto you this day, that if you
perish, it is not because there was never a Savior pro-
vided nor life tendered, but because you prefer (with

118 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI.

the Jew) the murderer before the Savior, sin before
Christ, "and love darkness rather than light." Search
thy heart therefore with candles, as the Jews did their
houses for leaven before the passover. Labor to find
out thy sins ; enter into thy closet, and consider, What
evil have I lived in ? what duty have I neglected to-
ward God ? what sin have I lived in against my broth-
er ? And now strike the darts through the heart of
thy sin, as Joab did through Absalom's. Never stand
looking upon thy sins, nor rolling the morsel under
thy tongue, but cast it out as poison, with fear and de-
testation. Alas I what will thy sins do for thee, that
thou shouldst hesitate to part with them ? They will
flatter thee, but they will undo thee and poison thee
while they please thee, and arm the justice and wrath
of the infinite God against thee. They will open hell
for thee, and pile up fuel to burn thee. Behold the
gibbet that they have prepared for thee ! O serve them
like Haman, and do upon them the execution they
would else have done upon thee. Away with them,
crucify them, and let Christ only be Lord over thee.

XI. Make a solemn choice of God for thy portion
and blessedness.

With all possible devotion and veneration avouch
the Lord for thy God : set the world, with all its-glory,
and paint, and gallantry, with all its pleasures and
promotions, on the one hand ; and set God with all
his infinite excellences and perfections on the other ;
and see that thou do deliberately make thy choice.
Take up thy rest in God. Sit thee down under his
shadow. Let his promises and perfections turn the
scale against all the world. Settle it upon thy heart,
that the Lord is an all-sufficient portion, that thou
canst not be miserable while thou hast God to live upon.

Chap. VI. J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 119

Take him for thy shield and exceeding great reward.
God alone is more than all the world ; content thyself
with him. Let others possess the preferments and
glory of the world ; place thou thy happiness in the
favor of God, and in the light of his countenance.

Poor sinner ! thou hast fallen off from God, and hast
engaged his power and wrath against thee; yet know,
that of his abundant grace he doth offer to be thy God
again in Christ. What say est thou, man ? wilt thou
Have the Lord for thy God? Why, take this counsel,
and thou shalt have him ; come to him by his Christ,
renounce the idols of thy pleasures, gain, and reputa-
tion, let these be pulled out of their throne, and set
God's interest uppermost in thy heart. Take him as
God, to be chief in thy affections, estimations, and
purposes ; for he will not endure to have any set above
him. In a word, thou must take him in all his per-
sonal relations and in all his essential perfections.

1. In all his personal relations. God the Father
must be taken for thy father. O come to him with
the prodigal ! " Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be called thy
son;" but since, of thy wonderful mercy, thou art
pleased to take me, that am of myself most vile, even
a beast and no man before thee, to be a child, I so-
lemnly take thee for my Father, commend myself to
thy care, and trust to thy providence, and cast my
burden on thy shoulders. I depend on thy provision,
and submit to thy corrections, and trust under the
shadow of thy wings, and hide in thy chambers, and
flee to thy name. I renounce all confidence in my-
self; I repose my confidence in thee; I declare my
engagement with thee ; I will be for thee, and not for
another. Again, God the Son must be taken for thy

120 DIRECTIONS TO THE CNCONVERTED. ( Chap. VI

Savior, thy Redeemer, and thy righteousness. He
must be accepted, as the only way to the Father, and
the only means of life. O then put off the raiment of
thy captivity, put on the wedding garment, and go and
marry thyself to Christ. ' Lord, I am thine, and all
I have, my body, soul, and estate. I give my heart to
thee ; I will be thine undividedly, thine everlastingly.
I will set thy name on all I have, and use it only as
thy goods, during thy leave, resigning ail to thee. I
will have no king but thee to reign over me. Other
lords have had the dominion over me : but now I will
make mention of thy name only, and do here take an
oath of fealty to thee, promising to serve and fear thee
above all competitors. I disavow mine own right-
eousness, and despair of ever being pardoned and
saved for my own duties or graces, and lean solely on
thy all-suhicient sacrifice and intercession for pardon,
and life, and acceptance before God. I take thee for
my only guide and instructor, resolving to be directed
by thee, and to wait for thy counsel ; for thine shall
be the casting voice with me.' Lastly, God the Spirit
must be taken for thy sanctiHer, for thy advocate, thy
counsellor, thy comforter, the teacher of thy ignorance,
the pledge and earnest of thy inheritance. " Awake
thou north wind, and come, thou south, and blow upon
my garden." " Come, thou Spirit of the Most High ;
here is a temple for thee ; here do thou rest for ever ;
dwell here; lo, I give up the possession to thee, full
possession ; I send thee the keys of my heart, that ail
may be thine. I give up the use of all to thee, that
every faculty and every member may be thy instru-
ment to work righteousness and do the will of my Fa-
ther wTho is in heaven
2. In all his essential perfections Consider how the

Chap. VI.l DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 121

Lord hath revealed himself to you in his word, Will
you take him as such a God ? O, sinner, here is the
most blessed news that ever came to the sons of men :
" The Lord will be thy God," if thou wilt but close
with him in his excellencies. Wilt thou have the mer-
ciful, the gracious, the sin-pardoning God to be thy
God ? "O yes," saith the sinner, "I am undone else."
But the Father tells thee, I am the holy and sin-hating
God ; if thou wilt be owned as one of my people, thou
must be holy — holy in heart, holy in life ; thou must
put away all thy iniquities, be they ever so dear, ever
vso natural, ever so necessary to the maintaining thy
fleshly interest. -Unless thou wilt be at enmity with
sin, I cannot be thy God. Cast out the leaven. "Put
away the evil of thy doings ; cease to do evil ; learn
to do well ;" else I can have nothing to do with thee.
Bring forth mine enemies, or there is no peace to be
had with me. What doth thine heart answer? "Lord,
I desire to have thee as such a God ; I desire to be ho-
ly as thou art holy, and to be made partaker of thy
holiness. I love thee, not only for thy goodness and
mercy, but for thy holiness and purity. I take thy ho-
liness for my happiness : O be to me a fountain of ho-
liness ; set on me the stamp and impress of thy holi-
ness: I will thankfully part with all my sins at thy
command. My wilful sins I do forthwith forsake; and
for mine infirmities that cleave unto me, though I
would be rid of them, I will strive against them con-
tinually: I detest them, and will pray against them,
and never let them have quiet rest in my soul." Be-
loved, whoever of you will thus accept of the Lord for
his God, shall have him.

Again, he tells you, "I am the all-sufficient God."
Will you lay all at my feet, give up all to my disposal,

1 1 Alarm.

J 22 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. | Chap. VJL

and take me for your only portion ? Will you own
and honor my all-sufficiency ? Will you take me as
your happiness and treasure, your hope and bliss ? I
am a sun and a shield all in one ; will you have me
for your all ? Now what dost thou say to this ? Doth
thy soul long for the onions and flesh-pots of Egypt ?
Art thou loth to change thy earthly happiness for a
portion in God ? and though thou wouldst be glad to
have God and the world too, yet canst thou not think
of having him, and nothing but him ; but hadst rather
take up with the earth below, if God would but let
thee keep it as long as thou wouldst? This is a fear-
ful sign. But now, if thou art willing to sell all for
the pearl of great price; if thine heart answer, "Lord,
I desire no other portion but thee ; take the corn, and
the wine, and the oil whoso will, so I may have the
light of thy countenance ; I fix upon thee for my hap-
piness; I gladly venture myself on thee, and trust my-
self with thee ; I set my hope in thee ; I take up my
rest with thee ; let me hear thee say, I am thy God, thy
salvation, and I have enough, all I wish for; I will
make no terms with thee but for thyself; let me but
have thee sure ; let me be able to make my claim and
see my title to thyself; and for other things, I leave
them to thee ; give me more or less, any thing or no-
thing, I will be satisfied in my God." Take him thus,
and he is thy own.

Again, he tells you, I am the sovereign Lord ; if you
will have me for your God you must give me the
supremacy. 1 will not be an underling ; you must not
make me a second to sin or any worldly interest. If
you will be my people I must have the rule over you ;
you must not live at your own choice. Will you come
Hinder my yoke? Will you bow to my government 7

Chap. VI.J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED1. 123

Will you submit to my discipline, to my word, to my
rod ? Sinner, what sayest thou to this ? "Lord, I had
rather be at thy command than live at my own will; I
had rather have thy will to be done than mine ; I ap-
prove of and consent to thy laws, and account it my
privilege to lie under them. And though the flesh re-
bel, and often break its bounds, I have resolved to take
no other Lord but thee. I willingly take the oath of
thy supremacy, and acknowledge thee for my Sove-
reign, and resolve all my days to pay the tribute of
worship, obedience, love and service to thee, and to
live to thee to the end of my life." This is a right
acceptance of Go3.

To be short, he tells you, I am the true and faithful
God. If you will have me for your God you must be
content to trust me. Will you venture yourselves upon
my word, and depend on my faithfulness, and take my
bond for your security ? Will you be content to follow
me in poverty, and reproach, and affliction here ; and
to see much going out and little coming in ; and to tarry
till the next world for your preferment? I deal much
upon trust. Will you be content to labor and suffer,
and to tarry for your returns till the resurrection of
the just? My promise will not always be instantly
fulfilled; will you have the patience to wait? Now,
what say you to this ? Will you have this God for
your God ? Will you be content to live by faith, and
trust hin\ for an unseen happiness, an unseen heaven,
an unseeu glory? Do your hearts answer, " Lord, we
will venture ourselves upon thee; we commit our-
selves to thee; we cast ourselves upon thee; we know
whom we have trusted; we are willing to take thy
word; we will prefer thy promises before our own
possessions, and the hopes of heaven before all the en-

124 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. ( Chap. VI.

joyments of the earth ; we will do thy pleasure— what
thou wilt here, so that we may have but thy faithful
promise for heaven hereafter." If you can in truth,
and upon deliberation, thus accept of God, he will be
yours. Thus there must be, in a right conversion to
God, a closing with him suitable to his excellences.
But when men close with his mercy, but yet love sin,
hating holiness and purity ; or will take him for their
benefactor, but not for their sovereign; or for their
patron, and not for their portion ; this is no thorough
and sound conversion.

XII. Accept of the Lord Jesus in all his offices, as
thine.

Upon these terms Christ may be had. Sinner, thou
hast undone, thyself, and art plunged into the ditch of
most deplorable misery, out of which thou art never
able to climb up ; but Jesus Christ is able and ready to
help thee, and he freely tenders himself to thee. Be
thy sins ever so many, ever so great, or of ever so long
continuance, yet thou shalt be most certainly pardoned
and saved, if thou dost not wretchedly neglect the of-
fer that in the name of God is here made to thee.
The Lord Jesus calleth thee to look to him and be
saved. " Come unto him, and he will in no wise cast thee
out." Yea, he beseecheth thee to be reconciled. He
crieth in the streets ; he knocketh at thy door ; he in-
viteth thee to accept of him, and live with him. If
thou diest, it is because thou wouldst not come to him
for life.

Now accept of an offered Christ, and thou art made
for ever ; now give thy consent to him, and the match
is made ; all the world cannot hinder it. Do not stand
off because of thy unworthiness. Man, I tell thee, no-
thing in the world can undo thee but thy unwilling-

Chap. VI.J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 125

ness. Speak, man ; art thou desirous of the honor 1
Wilt thou have Christ in all his relations to be thine 5
thy king, thy priest, thy prophet? Wilt thou have him
with all the inconveniences? Take not Christ with-
out consideration, but sit down first and count the cost,
Wilt thou lay all at his feet ? Wilt thou be content to
run all hazards with him ? Wilt thou take thy lot with
him, fall where it will ? Wilt thou "deny thyself, take
up thy cross and follow him ?" Art thou deliberately,
understanding^, freely determined to cleave to him,
in all times and conditions ? If so, thou shalt never
perish, but art passed from death unto life. Here lies
the main point of thy salvation, that thou be found in
thy covenant-closure with Jesus Christ ; and therefore,
if thou love thyself, see that thou be faithful to God
and thy soul here.

XIII. Resign up all thy powers and faculties, and
thy whole interest to be his.

" They gave their own selves unto the Lord." " Pre-
sent your bodies a living sacrifice." The Lord seeks
not yours, but you ; resign therefore thy body, with all
its members, to him ; and thy soul, with all its powers,
that he may be glorified in thy body and in thy spirit,
which are his.

In a right closing with Christ all thy faculties give
themselves up to him. Thy judgment says, " Lord,
thou art worthy of all acceptation, chief of ten thou-
sand : happy is the man that finds thee. All the things
that are to be desired are not to be compared with
thee." Prov. 3 : 13-15. The understanding lays aside
its corrupt reasonings and cavils, and its prejudices
against Christ and his ways. It is now past question-
ing, and carries it for Christ against all the world. It
concludes it is " good to be here," and sees such a trea-

126 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI»

sure in this field, such a value in this pearl, as is worth
all. Matt. 13 : 44-46. " O ! here is the richest bargain
that ever I made; here is the richest prize that ever
man was offered ; here is the most sovereign remedy
that ever mercy prepared ; he is worthy of my esteem,
worthy of my choice, worthy of my love, worthy to be
embraced, adored, admired, for evermore. Rev. 5 : 12.
I approve of his articles : his terms are righteous and
reasonable, full of equity and mercy." Again, the will
resigns. It stands no longer wavering, nor wishing,
but is peremptorily determined : " Lord, thy love hath
overcome me, thou hast won me, and thou shalt have
me. Come in, Lord ; to thee I freely open ; I consent to
be saved in thine own way. Thou shalt have any
thing — nay, have all, let me have but thee." The me-
mory gives up to Christ : " Lord, here is a storehouse
for thee ; out with this trash ; lay in the treasure ; let
me be a repository of thy truth, thy promises, thy pro-
vidences." The conscience comes in : " Lord, I will
ever side with thee : I will be thy faithful registrar :
I will warn when the sinner is tempted, and smite
when thou art offended ; I will witness for thee, and
judge for thee, and guide into thy ways, and will never
let sin have quiet in this soul." The affections also
come in to Christ : O, saith Love, " I am sick for thee :
O, saith Desire, now I have my longing ; here is the
satisfaction I sought for ; here is the desire of nations ;
here is bread for me, and balm for me : all that I want."
Fear bows the knee with awe and veneration : " Wel-
come, Lord, to thee will I pay my homage : thy word
and rod shall command my motions ; thee will I re-
verence and adore ; before thee will I fall down and
worship." Grief likewise puts in: "Lord, thy dis-
pleasure and thy dishonor thy people's calamities and

Chap. VI.J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 12?

my own iniquities shall be what shall set me at work.
I will mourn when thou art offended ; I will weep when
thy cause is wounded." Anger likewise comes in for
Christ : " Lord, nothing so enrages me as my folly
against thee, that I should be so besotted and bewitch-
ed as to hearken to the flatteries of sin and the temp-
tations of Satan against thee." Hatred too will side
with Christ : " I protest mortal enmity with thine en-
emies, that I never will be a friend to thy foes ; I vow
an eternal quarrel with every sin : I will give no quar-
ter ; I will make no peace." Thus let all thy powers
yield to Jesus Christ.

Again, thou must give up thy whole interest to
him. If there be any thing that thou keepest back
from Christ, it will be thy undoing. Luke, 14 : 33.
Unless thou wilt forsake all, (in preparation and re-
solution of thy heart,) thou canst not be his disciple.
Thou must hate father and mother, yea, and thine
own life also, in comparison with him, and as far
as it stands in competition with him. In a word,
thou must give him thyself, and all that thou hast,
without reservation, or else thou canst have no part
in him.

XIV. " Make choice of the laws of Christ as the
rule of thy words, thoughts, and actions." This is the
true convert's choice. But here remember these three
rules : — 1. You must choose them all, there is no get-
ting to heaven by a partial obedience. None may
think it enough to take up with the cheap and easy
part of religion, and let alone the duties that are costly
and self-denying, and oppose the interests of the flesh ;
you must take all or none. A sincere convert, though
he makes most conscience of the greatest sins and
weightiest duties, yet he makes true conscience of little

128 DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. [Chap. VI

sins and of all duties. 2. You must choose Christ's
laws for all times, for prosperity and adversity, whether
it rain or shine. A true convert is resolved in his
course ; he will stand to his choice, and will not set his
back to the wind, and be of the religion of the times.
" I have stuck to thy testimonies ; I have inclined my
heart to perform thy statutes always, even to the end.
Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage for ever. I
will have respect to thy statutes continually," 3. This
must not be done carelessly, but deliberately and un-
derstandingly. The disobedient son said, "I go, sir;
but he went not." How fairly did they promise, " All
that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee we will
do it !" And it is likely they spake as they meant.
But when it came to the trial it was found that there
was not such a heart in them as to do what they had
promised.

If you would be sincere in closing with the laws and
the ways of Christ, study the meaning, and breadth,
and extent of them. Remember that they are spiritual ;
they reach the very thoughts and inclinations of the
heart ; so that, if you will walk by this rule, your very
thoughts and inward motions must be under govern-
ment. Again, they are very strict and self-denying,
quite contrary to the grain of your natural inclinations.
You must take the strait gate, the narrow way, and be
content to have the flesh curbed from the liberty it de-
sires. In a word, they are very large, for " thy com-
mandments are exceeding broad."

Rest not in generals, for there is much deceit in
them, but bring down thine heart to the particular
commands of Christ. Those Jews, in the prophet,
seemed as well resolved as any in the world, and called
God to witness that they meant as they said : but they

Chap. VI. J DIRECTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 329

stuck in generals ; when God's command crosses their
inclination, they will not obey. Art thou resolved, in
the strength of Christ, to set upon the conscientious
practice of every duty that thou findest to be there
required of thee, and to set against every sin that
thou findest there forbidden ? This is the way to be
sound ki God's statutes, that thou mayest never be
ashamed.

Observe the special duties that thy heart is most
against, and the special sins that it is most inclined to,
and see whether it be truly resolved to perform the
one and forego the other. What sayest thou to thy
bosom-sin, thy gainful sin 1 What sayest thou to cost-
ly, hazardous, and flesh-displeasing duties? If thou
haltest here, and dost not resolve (by the grace of
God) to cross the flesh and be in earnest, thou art
unsound.

XV. " Let all this be completed .in a solemn cove-
nant between God and thy soul." For thy better help
therein, take these few directions.

Set apart some time, more than once, to be spent in
secret before the Lord — in seeking earnestly his special
assistance and gracious acceptance of thee — in search-
ing thy heart, whether thou art sincerely willing to
forsake all thy sins, and to resign up thyself, body and
soul, unto God and his service ; to serve him in holi-
ness and righteousness all the days of thy life. Com-
pose thy spirit into the most serious frame possible,
suitable to a transaction of so high importance. Lay
hold on the convenant of God, and rely on his promise
of giving grace and strength, whereby thou mayest be
enabled to perform thy promise. Trust not to thine
own strength, to the strength of thine own resolutions :
but take hold on his strength.

ISO A SHORT SOLILOQUY. [diap. VT.

XVI. Take heed of delaying thy conversion, but
make a speedy, an immediate surrender of thy heart
to God. " I made haste, and delayed not." Remember
and tremble at the sad instance of the foolish virgins,
that came not till the " door of mercy was shut;" and
of a convinced Felix, who put off Paul to another sea-
son ; and we never find that he had such another sea-
son. O come in while it is called to-day, lest thou
shouldst be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin ;
lest the day of grace should be over, and the things
which belong to thy peace should be c: hidden from
thine eyes." Now mercy is inviting thee; now Christ
is waiting to be gracious to thee, and the Spirit of God
is striving with thee; now ministers are calling; now
conscience is stirring : now the market is open, and
oil may be had, thou hast opportunity for buying.
Now Christ is to be had, if accepted. 0 strike in with
the offers of grace : now or never ! If thou make light
of this offer, God may swear in his wrath, thou shall
not taste of his supper.

A SHORT SOLILOQUY.

What meanest thou, 0 my soul, to go on thus? ar<
thou in league with hell ? hast thou made a covenant
with death ? art thou in love with thy misery ? " Is it
good for thee to be here ?" Alas ! what shall I do ? shall
I go on in my sinful ways ? Why then, certain damna-
tion will be my end. And shall I be so besotted as to
go and sell my soul to the flames for a little ale and a
little ease, for a little pleasure, or gain, or satisfaction
to my flesh ? Shall I linger any longer in this wretched
state? No ; if I tarry here I shall die. Wrhat then?
Is there no help, no hope? None, except 1 turn. Why,

Chap. Vl.J A SHORT SOLILOQUY. 131

but is there any remedy for such woful misery? any
mercy, after such provoking iniquity? Yes, as sure as
God's oath is true I shall have pardon and mercy yet,
if immediately, and unfeignedly, and unreservedly
I turn by Christ to him.

Why, then, I thank thee upon my bended knees, O
most merciful Jehovah ! that thy patience hath waited
for me hitherto; for, hadst thou taken me away in this
estate, I had perished for ever. And now I adore thy
grace, and accept the offers of thy mercy : I renounce
all my sins, and resolve by thy grace to set myself
against them, and to folluw thee in holiness and
righteousness all the days of my life.

Who am I, Lord, that I should make any claim unto
thee, or have any part or portion in thee, who am not
worthy to lick up the dust of thy feet? yet, since thou
boldest forth the golden sceptre, I am bold to come and
touch. To despair, would be to disparage thy mercy;
and to stand off when thou biddest me to come, would
be at once to ruin myself and rebel against thee, under
the pretence of humility. Therefore I bow my soul
to thee, and with all possible thankfulness accept thee
as mine, and give up myself to thee as thine. Thou
shalt be Sovereign over me, " my King and my God :"
thou shalt be on the throne, and all my powers shall
bow to thee; they shall come and worship before thy
feet. Thou shalt be my portion, O Lord, and I will
rest in thee.

Thou callest for my heart. O that it were any way
fit for thine acceptance ! I am unworthy, O Lord, ever-
lastingly unworthy to be thine; but since thou wilt
have it so, I freely give up my heart to thee : take it :
it is thine: O that it were better ! But, Lord, I put it
into thine hand, who alone canst mend it : mold it

132 A SHORT SOLILOCIUY. [Chap. VI

after thine own heart ; make it as thou wouldst have it,
holy, humble, heavenly, soft, tender, flexible j and write
thy law upon it.

11 Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ;" enter in triumph-
antly! take me up to thee for ever: I give up myself
to thee ; I come to thee as the only way to the Father,
as the only Mediator, the means ordained to bring me
to God. I have destroyed myself, but in thee is my
help ; save, Lord, or else I perish !" I come to thee
worthy to die and to be damned. Never was the hire
more due to the servant, never was penny more due to
the laborer, than death and hell (my just wages) are
due to me for my sins. But I flee to thy merits ; I
trust alone to the value and virtue of thy sacrifice, and
the prevalence of thy intercession. I submit to thy
teaching ; I make choice of thy government. " Stand
open, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may
come in."

O thou Spirit of the Most High, the comforter and
sanctifier of thy chosen ! come in with all thy glorious
train, all thy courtly attendants, thy fruits and graces ;
let me be thine habitation ; I can give thee only what
is thine own already ; but here, with the poor widow,
I cast my two mites, my soul and my body, into thy
treasury, fully resigning them up to thee, to be sancti-
fied by thee, to be servants to thee. They shall be thy
patients ; cure thou their malady. They shall be thy
subjects; govern thou their motions. Too long have
I served the world; too long have I hearkened to Sa-
tan ; but now I renounce them all, and will be ruled
by thy dictates and directions, and guided by thy
counsel.

O blessed Trinity! O glorious Unity! I deliver up
myself to thee : receive me ; write thy name, 0 Lord,

Chap. VII.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 133

upon me, and upon all that I have, as thy property ;
set thy mark upon me, upon every member of my bo-
dy, and on every faculty of my soul. I have chosen
thy precepts; thy law will I keep in mine eye, and
study to follow. According to this rule do I resolve,
through thy grace, to walk; after this law shall my
whole man be governed ; and though I shall come
short in all thy commandments, yet I will allow my-
self in the breach of none. I know my flesh will
hang back ; but I resolve, in the power of thy grace,
to cleave to thee and thy holy ways, whatever it costs
me. I am sure I cannot come off a loser by thee, and
therefore I will be content with reproach, and difficul-
ties, and hardships here; and will "deny myself, and
take up my cross, and follow thee." Lord Jesus, thy
yoke is easy, thy cross is welcome : as it is the way to
thee, I lay aside all hopes of worldly happiness ; I will
be content to tarry till I come to thee. Let me be poor,
and low, and despised here, so I may but be admitted
to live and reign with thee hereafter. Lord, thou hast
my heart and hand to this agreement : be it as the laws
of the Medes and Persians, never to be reversed. To
this will I stand ; in this resolution, through grace, I
will live and die; "I have sworn," and will perforin
it, that " I will keep thy righteous judgments;" I have
given my free consent ; I have made my everlasting
choice: Lord Jesus, confirm the contract. Amen.

CHAPTBH VI X.

CONTAINING THE MOTIVES TO CONVERSION.

Though what is already said of the "necessity of
conversion," and of the "miseries of the unconverted,"

12 Alarui.

134 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII.

might be sufficient to induce any considerate mind to
resolve upon a present turning unto God; yet, know-
ing what a piece of desperate obstinacy and untracta-
bleness the heart of man naturally is, and thinking it
therefore possible, after all that I have said, some might
still refuse their whole selves to the Lord, I have added
the following motives.

Lord, fail me not now, at my last attempts. If any
soul hath read hitherto, and is yet untouched, now,
Lord, fasten on him, and do thy work; now take him
by the heart, overcome him, persuade him, till he say,
Thou hast prevailed, for thou art stronger than I.
Lord, didst not thou make me a fisher of men, and
have I toiled all this while and caught nothing ? Alas !
that I should have spent my strength for naught ! and
now I am casting my last; Lord Jesus, stand thou up-
on the shore, and direct how and where I shall spread
my net; and let me so enclose with arguments the
souls I seek, that they may not be able to get out.
Now, Lord, for a multitude of souls ! now for a full
draught ! O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and
strengthen me this once, O God.

But I turn me unto you.

Men and brethren, heaven and earth call upon you ;
yea, hell itself preaches the doctrine of repentance un-
to you ; the ministers of the churches labor for you.
The angels of heaven wait for you, for your repenting
and turning unto God. O sinner, why should the de-
vils make merry with thee? why shouldst thou be a
morsel for that devouring leviathan? why should har-
pies and hell-hounds tear thee, and make a feast upon ,
thee ; and when they have got thee into the snare, and
have fastened their talons in thee, laugh at thy de-
struction, and deride thy misery, and sport themselves

Chap. VII.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 135

with thy ruinous folly? This will be thy case, except
thou turn. And were it not better thou shouldst be a
joy to angels, than a laughing-stock and sport for de-
vils? Verily, if thou wouldst but come in, the hea-
venly hosts would take up their anthems and sing,
"Glory be to God in the highest ;" the morning stars
would sing together, and all the sons of God shout for
joy, and celebrate this new creation as they did the
first. Thy repentance would, as it were, make a holi-
day in heaven, and the glorious spirits would rejoice,
in that there is a new brother added to their society,
another heir born to the Lord, and the lost son re-
ceived safe and sound. The true penitent's tears are
indeed the wine that maketh glad both God and man.
If it be little that men and angels would rejoice at thy
conversion, know thou that God himself would rejoice
over thee, even with singing, and rest in his love. Ne-
ver did Jacob with such joy weep over the neck of his
Joseph, as thy heavenly Father would rejoice over thee
upon thy coming to him. Look over the story of the
prodigal. Methinks I see how the aged father lays
aside his state and forgetteth his years; behold how
he runneth! O the haste that mercy makes! the sin-
ner makes not half that speed. Methinks I see how
his bowels move, how his compassions yearn. How
quick sighted is love! Methinks I hear the music at
a distance. O the melody of the heavenly choristers!
I cannot learn the song, Rev. 14 : 3, but methinks I
overhear the burden, at which all the harmonious choir
with one consent strike sweetly in, being none other
than, " For this my son was dead, and is alive again ;
was lost, and is found." I need not farther explain the
parable: God is the father; Christ is the provision; his
righteousness the robe ; his grace the ornaments ; mitt-

138 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VIL

fsters, saints and angels the friends and servants; and
thou that readest (if thou wilt but unfeignedly repent
and turn) the welcome prodigal, the happy instance of
this grace, and blessed subject of this joy and love I
O rock ! O adamant ! — what ! not moved yet ! not yet
resolved to turn forthwith and to close with mercy !
I will try thee yet once again ; if one were sent to thee
from the dead, wouldst thou be persuaded? Why,
hear the voice from the dead, from the damned, crying
to thee that thou shouldst repent: "I pray thee that
thou wouldst send him to my father's house, (for 1
have five brethren,) that he may testify to them, lest
they also come into this place of torment : if one went
to them from the dead, they will repent." Hear, O
man ! thy predecessors in impenitence preach to thee
from the infernal world, from the flames, from the rack,
that thou shouldst repent. O look but down into the
bottomless pit; seest thou how the smoke of their tor-
ment ascendeth for ever and ever ! What thinkest thou
of those chains of darkness? Canst thou be content to
burn ? Seest thou how the worm gnaweth, how the fire
rageth ? What sayest thou to that gulf of perdition ?
wilt thou take up thine habitation there ? O lay thine
ear to the door of hell : nearest thou the curses and blas-
phemies, the wreepings and wailings, how they lament
their follies and curse their day? How do they roar
and gnash their teeth! how deep their groans! how
inconceivable their miseries! if the shrieks of Korah,
Dathan and Abiram were so terrible (when the earth
clave asunder, and opened its mouth and swallowed
them up, and all that appertained to them) that all.Is-
rael fled at the cry of them, O how fearful would the
cry be, if God should take off the covering from the
mouth of hell, and let the cry of the damned ascend

Chap. VII.] MOTIVES TO CONVERSION 137

in all its terror among the children of men ! and of all
their moans and miseries this is the piercing, killing
emphasis and burden, "for ever! for ever i"

Why, as God liveth that made thy soul, thou art but
a few hours distant from all this, except thou "repent
and be converted."

0, I am even lost and swallowed up in the abun-
dance of those arguments that I might suggest. If
there be any point of wisdom in all the world, it is to
repent and come in. If there be any thing righteous,
any thing reasonable, this is it. If there be any thing
in the world that may be called madness and folly, and
any thing that may be counted sottish, absurd, brutish,
and unreasonable, it is this, "to go on in thine uncon-
verted state." Let me beg of thee, as thou wouldst
not willingly destroy thyself, to sit down and weigh,
beside what has been said, these following motives,
and let conscience say if it be not most reasonable
that thou shouldst " repent and turn."

1. The God that made thee, most graciously invites
thee.

His most sweet and merciful nature invites thee. O
the kindness of God, his boundless compassion, his ten-
der mercies ! As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are his ways above our ways, and his thoughts above
our thoughts. " He is full of compassion, and gracious,
long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy." This is a
great argument to persuade sinners to come in, "Turn
unto the Lord your God ; for he is gracious and mer-
ciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and repenteth
him of the evil."

If God would not repent of the evil, it would be
some discouragement against our repenting. If there
12*

138 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII

were no hope of mercy, it would be no wonder that
rebels should stand out; but never had subjects such
a gracious prince, such pity, patience, and clemency
to deal with, as you have. "Who is a God like unto
thee, that pardoneth iniquity ?" Micah, 7:18. O sin-
ners ! see what a God you have to deal with : if j^ou
will but turn, "he will turn again, and have compas-
sion on you ; he will subdue your iniquities, and cast
all your sins into the depths of the sea." " Return un-
to me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will return unto
you." Sinners do not fail in that they have too high
thoughts of God's mercies, but in that, 1, They over-
look his justice. 2. They promise themselves mercy
out of God's way. His mercy is beyond all imagina-
tion ; great mercies, manifold mercies, Neh. 9 : 19, ten-
der mercies, sure mercies, everlasting mercies ; and all
is thy own, if thou wilt but turn. Art thou willing to
come in? The Lord hath laid aside his terror and
erected a throne of grace. He holds forth the golden
sceptre: touch and live. Would a merciful man slay
his enemy when prostrate at his feet, acknowledging
his wrong, begging pardon, and offering to enter with
him into a covenant of peace? Much less will the
merciful God. Study his name.

His soul-encouraging call and promises invite thee.
Ah, what an earnest suitor is mercy to thee ! how lov-
ingly, how instantly, it calleth after thee ! how earnest-
ly it wooeth thee! "Return, thou backsliding Israel,
saith the Lord, and I will not cause my anger to fall
upon you ; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will
not keep anger for ever ; only acknowledge thine ini-
quity. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord;
return, and I will heal thy backslidings. Thou hast
played the harlot with many lovers; yet return untc

Chap. VII.J MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 139

me, saith the Lord." "As I live, saith the Lord God,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that
he turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from
your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O house of Is-
rael ?" "If the wicked will turn from all his sins that
he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do
that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he
shall not die. All the transgressions that he hath com-
mitted they shall not be mentioned unto him ; in his
righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Repent,
and turn you from all your transgressions : so iniquity
shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your
transgressions, and make you a new heart and a new
spirit ; for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? for I
have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith
the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye."
O melting, gracious words! the voice of God, and
not of a man ! This is not the manner of men. for
the offended sovereign to sue to the offending traitor-
ous rebel. O how doth mercy follow thee, and plead
with thee ! Is not thy heart broken yet? O that "to-
day you would hear his voice !"

II. The doors of heaven are thrown open to thee,
the everlasting gates are set wide for thee, and an abun-
dant entrance into the kingdom of heaven is administer-
ed to thee.

Christ now addresses thee, and calls upon thee to
arise and take possession of this good land. View the
glory of the other world, as set forth in the map of
the Gospel ; get thee up into Pisgah of the promises,
and lift up thine eyes northward, and southward, and
eastward, and westward, and see the good land that is
beyond Jordan, and that goodly mountain ; behold the

140 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII.

Paradise of God, watered with the streams of glory.
Arise and walk through the land, in the length of it,
and in the breadth of it; for the land which thou seest,
the Lord will give it to thee for ever, if thou wilt but
return. Let me say to thee, as Paul to Agrippa, "Be-
lievest thou the prophets?" If thou believest indeed,
do but view what glorious things are spoken of the
city of God, and know that all this is here tendered in
the name of God to thee. As verily as God is true, it
shall be for ever thine, if thou wilt but thoroughly turn>
Behold the city of pure transparent gold, whose
foundations are garnished with all manner of precious
stones, whose gates are pearls, whose light is glory,
whose temple is God. Believest thou this? if thou
dost, art thou not worse than insane, that wilt not take
possession when the gates are thrown open to thee,
and thou art bid to enter? O ye sons of folly, will ye
embrace the dunghill and refuse the kingdom? Be-
hold, the Lord takes you up into the mountain, shows
you the kingdom of heaven and all the glory thereof,
and tells you, All this will I give you, if you will but
return unto me ; if you will submit to mercy, accept
my Son, and serve me in righteousness and holiness.
" O fools, and slow of heart to believe !" Will you
seek and serve the world, and neglect eternal glory ?
What! not enter into Paradise when the flaming sword,
which was once set to keep you out, is now used to
drive you in ! But you will say I am uncharitable, to
think you infidels and unbelievers. Why, what shall
I think of you ? Either you are desperate unbelievers,
that do not credit it, or insane, that you know and be-
lieve the excellence and eternity of this glory, and yet
do so fearfully neglect it. Surely you have either no
faith or no reason, and I had almost said conscience
shall tell you so before I leave you.

Chap. VII. J MOTIVES TO CO-NVERSION. 141

Do but attend to what is offered you : a blessed king-
dom, a "kingdom of glory," a "kingdom of righteous-
ness," a " kingdom of peace," and an " everlasting king-
dom." Here thou shalt dwell, here thou shalt reign for
ever, and the Lord shall seat thee on a throne of glory,
and with his own hand shall set the royal diadem upon
thine head, and give thee a crown — not of thorns, for
there shall be no sinning nor suffering there — not of
gold, (for this shall be viler than the dirt in that day,)
but a "crown of life," a "crown of righteousness," a
4 'crown of glory," yea, "thou shalt put on glory as a
robe," and shalt "shine like the sun in the firmament,
in the glory of thy Father." Look now upon thy
worthless flesh. This very flesh, which is mere dust
and ashes, shall be brighter than the stars. In short,
Ihou shalt be made like unto the "angels of God," and
"behold his face in righteousness." Look in now and
tell me, Dost thou yet believe '? if not, conscience must
pronounce thee an infidel; for it is the very "word of
God " that I speak.

But if thou sayest thou believest, let me next know
thy resolution. Wilt thou embrace this for thy happi-
ness? Wilt thou forego thy sinful gains, thy forbid-
den pleasures? Wilt thou trample on the world's es-
teem, and stop thy ears to its flatteries, and wrest thee
out of its embraces ? Wilt thou be content to take up
with reproach and poverty, if they lie in the way to
heaven, and follow the Lord with humble self-denial,
in a mortified and flesh-displeasing life? If so, all is
thine, and that for ever.

And is not the offer a fair one? Is it not just that
he should be damned that will go on and perish, when
all this may be had by taking it ? Wilt thou take God
at his word ; wilt thou let go thy hold of the world,

142 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. VII

and rid thy hands of thy sins, and lay hold on eternal
life? If not, let conscience tell thee whether thou
art not insane, that thou shouldst neglect so happy a
choice, by which thou mightest be made happy for
ever.

III. God will settle unspeakable privileges at present
upon thee.

Though the full of your blessedness shall be de-
ferred till hereafter, yet God will give you no little
things in hand. He will redeem you from your thral-
dom. He will pluck you from the paw of the lion.
The serpent shall bruise thy heel, but thou shalt bruise
his head. He shall deliver you from this present evil
world. Prosperity shall not destroy you; adversity
shall not separate him and you.

He will redeem you from the power of the grave,
and make the king of terrors a messenger of peace to
you. He will take out the curse from the cross, and
make affliction the refining-pot, the fan, the medicine,
to blow off the chaff, purify the metal, and cleanse the
mind. He will save you from the arrest of the law,
and turn the curse into a blessing to you. He hath the
keys of hell and of death, and shutteth and no man
openeth, and he will shut its mouth, as once he did the
lions', that you shall not be hurt of the second death.

Beside, he will not only save you from misery, but
install you into unspeakable prerogatives. He will be-
stow himself upon you ; he will be a friend and a fa-
ther unto you. He will be a sun and a shield to you.
In a word, he will be a God to you. And what can be
said more 1 What may you expect that a God should
do for you, and be to you ? that he will be, that he will
do. She that marries a prince expects he should do

Chap. VII. | MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. 143

for her like a prince, that she may live in a suitable
state, and have an answerable dowry : he that hath a
king for his father or a friend, expects he should do foi
him like a king. Alas ! the kings and monarchs of the
earth, so much above you, are but like the painted but-
terflies amongst the rest of their kind, or the fair co-
lored palmer-worm amongst the rest of the worms, if
compared with God. As he does infinitely exceed the
glory and power of his glittering dust, so he will, be-
yond all proportion, exceed in doing for his favorites
whatever princes can do for theirs. He will "give you
grace and glory, and withhold no good thing from
you." He will take you for his sons and daughters,
and make you heirs of his promises, and establish his
everlasting covenant with you. He will justify you
from all that law, conscience, and Satan can charge
upon you. He will give you free access into his pre-
sence, and accept your person, and receive your prayers.
He will abide in you, and hold a constant and friendly
communion with you. His ear shall be open, his door
open, his store open, at all times to you. His blessing
shall rest upon you, and he will make your enemies to
serve you, and work out " all things for good unto
you."

IV. The terms of mercy are brought as low as pos-
sible to you. God has stooped as low to sinners as
with honor he can. He will not be an author of sin.
nor stain the glory of his holiness: and how could he
come lower than he has, unless he should do this?

God does not impose any thing unreasonable or im-
possible, as a condition of life, upon you. Two things
were necessary to be done, according to the tenor of
the first covenant. 1. That we should fully satisfy

144 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. [Chap. Vll

the demands of justice for past offences. 2. That we
should perform personally, perfectly, and perpetually
the whole law for the time to come. By our sins we
render salvation through either of these ways impossi-
ble. But, behold God's gracious provision in both.
He does not insist upon your satisfaction: he is con-
tent to take of the Surety (and he of his own pro-
viding too) what he might have exacted from you.
"All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the min-
istry of reconciliation } to wit, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them ; and hath committed unto us the
word of reconciliation." He declares himself to have
received a ransom ; and that he expects nothing but
that you should accept his Son, "who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption;'5 and he shall be righteousness and
redemption to you; "who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin,
should live unto righteousness." If therefore you
come in his Christ, and set your heart to please him,
making this your chief concern, he will graciously ac-
cept, and even reward you, though your obedience be
not perfect.

O consider the condescension of your God ; let me
say to you, as Naaman's servants to him, "My father,
if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, would
you not have done it? How much rather when he
says to thee, Wash and be clean!" If God had de-
manded some terrible, some severe and rigorous thing
s of you, to escape eternal damnation, would you not
have done it? Suppose it had been to spend ail your
days in sorrow in some howling wilderness, or 10

Chap. VII. | MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. I40

n ofFer the fruit of your bodies for the sin of your
souls," would you not have thankfully accepted eter-
nal redemption, though these had been the conditions?
Nay, farther, if God should have told you that you
should have burned in the fire for millions of ages, or
been so long tormented in hell, would you not have
gladly accepted it ? Alas ! all these are not so much
as one grain of sand in the glass of eternity. If your
offended Creator should have holden you but one year
upon the rack, and then bidden you come and forsake
j70ur sins, accept Christ, and serve him a few years in
self-denial, or lie in this case for ever and ever ; do you
think you should have hesitated at the offer, and dis-
puted the terms, and have been unresolved whether you
were to accept of the proposal ? O sinner, return and
live; why shouldst thou die when life is to be had for
taking, when mercy seems beholden to thee (as it were)
to be saved? Couldst thou say, "Lord, I knew thee,
that thou wast a hard man," even then thou would st
have had no excuse ; but when the God of heaven has
stooped so low, and condescended so far, if still thou
shouldst stand off, who shall plead for thee?

Object. Notwithstanding all the advantages of this
new covenant, I am unable to repent and believe, and
so comply with its conditions.

Ans. Dare you thus charge your impenitency and
unbelief upon God ? Your ability is sufficient to ren-
der it your duty to repent without delay. But let the
next consideration serve for a fuller answer.

V. God doth offer all needed grace to enable you.

"I have stretched out mine hand, and no man re-
garded." What though you are plunged into the ditch
of that misery from which you can never get out ?

13 Alarm.

146 MOTIVES TO CONVERSION. (Chap. Vll

Christ offereth to help you out; he reacheth out his
hand to you; and if you perish, it is for refusing his
help. " Behold I stand at the doc r and knock ; if any
man open to me I will come in." What though you
are poor, and wretched, and blind, and naked ? Christ
offereth a cure for your blindness, a covering for your
nakedness, a remedy for your poverty ; he tenders you
his righteousness, his grace : "I counsel thee to buy oi
me gold, that thou mayest be rich ; and wh?te raiment,
that thou mayest be clothed; and anoint thy eyes with
eye-salve, that thou mayest see." Do you say, Thd
condition is impossible; for I have not wherewith to
buy.2 You must know that this buying is "without
money and without price." This buying is by beg-
ging and seeking with your whole heart. God com-
mandeth thee to know him, and to fear him. Dost
thou say, Yea, but my mind is blinded, and my heart
is hardened from his fear? I answer, God doth offer
to enlighten thy mind, and to teach thee this fear that
is presented to thy choice. So that now, if men live
in ignorance and estrangement from the Lord, it is be-
cause they will not understand and desire the know-
ledge of his ways. "If thou criest after knowledge, if
thou seekest her as silver, &e. then shalt thou under-
stand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of
God." Is not here a fair offer? "Turn ye at my re-
proof; behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you."
Though of yourselves you can do nothing, yet you may
do all through his Spirit enabling you, and he offers
assistance to you. God bids you "wash and make you
clean." You say you are unable, as much as the leo-
pard to wash out his spots. Yea, but the Lord doth
offer to purge you ; so that if you are filthy still, it is
through your own wilfulness, "I have purged thee

Chap. YU.] QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 14

and thou wast not purged." "O Jerusalem, wilt thou
not be made clean ? When shall it once be ?" God
doth invite you to be made clean, and entreat you to
yield to his proposals ; accept of his offers, and let him
do for you, and in you, what you cannot do for your-
selves.

SIX QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED.

Q. 1. What is my state by nature? Is it not a state
of death ? Eph. 2:1. A state of wrath ? ver. 3. Sirs,
awake, and bethink yourselves where you are, and
whither you are going. While you are in your natu-
ral, unconverted, unbelieving state, all your sins are
unpardoned, and the wrath of God abideth on you.
Suppose you saw a poor creature hanging over a
burning fiery furnace by nothing but a slender thread,
like to break every moment, would not your hearts
ache for such a one? Sirs, it is your very case ; you
hang over the infernal burnings by nothing but the
small thread of your lives, while you know not but it
may break the next moment, and then where are
you ? Is this a case for you to go on contentedly and
merrily in ?

Q. 2. What condition is my soul now in ? Am I
changed and renewed by conversion, or am I not ?
Speak, conscience ; hath this man, this woman, this
child, been soundly and savingly changed, both in
heart and life 1 WThere are your evidences ? Can
you show the marks of the Lord Jesus upon your
souls ? Let conscience answer. Where was the
place 1 what were the means ? when was the time
that your soul was thoroughly renewed ? At least, if
you cannot show the time, place, or means, can you

AS QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. Idiap. VII.

prove the thing ? Can you say with him that was
born blind, One thing I know, that whereas 1 was
blind, I now see ? Sirs, be not deceived : I tell yon,
whatever you do, nothing will avail you to salvation,
except you be new creatures.

<4. 3. What if I should lose my soul 1 What sad
work should I make of it then ? This is very possible ;
yea, it is the case of the most. There are but few of
the children of men that escape safe to heaven. Sirs,
beware of your danger, and fear, lest a promise being
left of entering into rest, any of you should at last
come short of it. Suppose a man were to travel
through some perilous wood or wilderness, having
but one jewel in all the world, in which his all was
bound up, and should see some stand on one hand and
some on the other, and hear one company in this place
and another in that cry out under the hands of some
cruel robbers ; O, in what fear would this traveler
go lest he should lose this jewel, and be robbed of all
at once ! Why, thou art the man ; this traveler is
thyself; this jewel is thy soul ; this wilderness or
wood is this world thou art to travel through : swarms
of sins, legions of devils, and a whole world of temp-
tations— these are the robbers that lie in wait for thy
soul ; and if all that these can do can keep thee out
of heaven, thou shalt never enter there. O ! what if
thy pride or VForldliness, thy delays and triflings in
religion should at last betray thy soul into the
robbers' hands 1 Other losses may be repaired ; but
thy soul being once lost, God is lost, Christ is lost,
heaven is lost, all lost for evermore.

Q. 4. What am I doing for my soul ? What *
have I a soul, an immortal soul to care for, and look
no better after it, and bestow no more of my time or

Chap. VII. | QUESTIONS TO THE UNCONVERTED. 149

pains upon it, no more of my thoughts about it?
When Augustus the emperor saw the outlandish wo-
men carrying apes and such kind of strange creatures
in their arms, he asked, What ! have the women in
these countries no children ? So it may be said of
many among us, that are early and late at their worldly
business, but let the care of religion lie by neglected,
What ! have these men no souls ? Why, man ! hast
thou a soul, and yet dost so little in thy closet, so little
m thy family, from day to day, for it? What meanest
thou. O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, that thou
perish not. What will become of thy soul if thou
lookest to it only at this careless rate ?

Q. 5. What if God should this night require my
soul, where would death land me ? There was one
that promised himself many merry days and years, as
it is likely thou dost, but that same night God called
for his soul. Sirs, are you prepared ? Are you fit to
die ? O dare not to live in such a case, nor in that
course in which you would not dare to die.

Q. 6. Should I not be in a happy case, if I had
but secured my soul ? O if this were but once done,
how sweetly mightest thou live ! Then thou mightest
eat thy bread and drink thy wine with a merry heart,
when assured that God accepteth thee and thy works.
Then thou mightest lie down in peace, rise up in peace,
and go out in peace. Then thou mightest look death
m the face, thou mightest look dangers in the face, yea,
look devils in the face, and never be afraid. Go then
to Christ, seek the pardon of your sins through his
death, commit your soul into his hands, believe in
him, and then this happiness shall be yours : but go, I
beseech you, without delay.

13*

250 conclusion. [Chap 711.

CONCLUSION.

And now, to conclude, let me know your mind;
what do you intend to do ? Will you go on and die,
or will you immediately turn and lay hold on eternal
life ? How long will ye linger in Sodom ? " How
long will ye halt between two opinions ?" Have you
not yet resolved whether Christ or Barabbas, whether
bliss or torment, whether this vain and wretched
wrorld or the paradise of God be the better choice ?
Is it a disputable case whether the Abana and Pharpar
of Damascus be better than all the streams of Eden ;
or whether the vile puddle of sin is to be preferred
before the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb ? Can the
world in good earnest do that for you which Christ
can ? Will it stand by you to eternity 1 Will plea-
sures, land, titles and treasures descend with you ? If
not, had you not need look after somewhat that will 1
What mean you to stand wavering, to be off and on ?
Shall I leave you at last, like Agrippa, no further than
almost persuaded ? Why, you are for ever lost if left
here ! as good be not at all, as not altogether Chris-
tians. You are half in mind to give over your former
negligent life, and set to a strict and holy course ;
you could wish you were as some others are, and
could do as they can do. How long will you rest in
idle wishes and fruitless purposes 1 When will you
come to a fixed, firm, and full resolve ? Do not you
see how Satan cheats you by tempting you to delays 1
How long hath he drawn you on in the way of perdi-
tion? Haw many years have you been purposing
to mend ? What if God should have taken you off all
this while.

Chap. VII.j conclusion. 151

Well, put me not off with a dilatory answer ; tell
me not of hereafter ; I must have your immediate
consent ; if you be not now resolved, while the Lord
is treating with you and inviting you, much less are
you like to be hereafter, when these impressions are
worn out, and you are hardened through the deeeitful-
ness of sin. Will you give me your hand 2 Will you
set open the door and give the Lord Jesus the full and
ready possession 1 Will you put your name unto his
covenant ? What do you resolve upon ? If you still
delay, my labor is lost, and all is likely to come to no-
thing. Come, cast in your lot ; make your choice.
" Now is the accepted time ; now is the day of salva-
tion : to-day, if you will hear his voice." Why
should not this be the day whence thou shouldst be>
able to date thy happiness 1 Why shouldst thou
venture a day longer in this dangerous and dreadful
condition 1 What if God should this night require
thy soul ? "0 that thou mightest know in this thy
day the things that belong to thy peace, before they
be hid from thine eyes !" This is thy day, and it is
but a day. Others have had their day, and have re-
ceived their doom and now art thou brought upon
the stage of this world, here to act thy part for the
whole of eternity. Remember thou art now upon
thy good behavior for everlasting; if thou make not a
wise choice now, thou art undone for ever. Look
what thy present choice is ; such must thine eternal
condition be.

And is it true indeed ? Are life and death at thy
choice ? Why then, what hinders but that thou
shouldst be happy ? Nothing doth or can hinder but
thine own willful neglect or refusal. It was the remark
of ths eunuch to Philip : " See, here is water , what

152 conclusion. [Chap. VII

i

doth hinder me to be baptized ?" So I may say to
thee, See, here is Christ, here is mercy, pardon, life
what hinders but that thou shouldst be pardoned and
saved ? One of the martyrs, as he was praying at the
stake, had his pardon set by him in a box, which indeed
he refused rightly, because upon unworthy terms ; but
here the terms are most honorable and easy, O sin-
ner ! wilt thou burn with thy pardon by thee ? do but
forthwith give up thy consent to Christ to renounce
thy sins, deny thyself, take up the yoke and the cross
and thou carriest the day ; Christ is thine ; pardon,
peace, life, blessedness are all thine. And is not this
an offer worth embracing 1 Why shouldst thou hesi-
tate or doubtfully dispute about the case ? Is it not
past controversy whether God be better than sin, and
glory than vanity ? Why shouldst thou forsake thy own
mercy, and sin against thy own life ? When wilt thou
shake off thy sloth, and lay by thine excuses ? " Boast
not thyself of to-morrow, thou knowest not" where
this night may lodge thee.

Now the Holy Spirit is striving with you ; he will
not always strive. Hast thou not felt thine heart
aroused by the word, and been almost persuaded to
leave off thy sins and come to Christ ? Hast thou not
felt some motions in thy mind, wherein thou hast
been warned of thy danger, and told what thy care-
less course would end in ? It may be thou art like
young Samuel, who, when the Lord called once and
again, knew not the voice of the Lord ; but these
motions and desires are the offers, and essays, and
callings, and strivings of the Spirit. 0 take advantage
of the tide, and know the day of thy visitation.

Now the Lord Jesus stretcheth wide his arms to
receive yon j he bcseecheth you by us. How movingly,

Chap. VII. conclusion. 153

how meltingly, how compassionately he calleth ! the
church is put into a sudden ecstacy at the sound of
his voice, u the voice of my beloved," O wilt thou
turn a deaf ear to his voice ? Is it not the voice that
breaketh the cedars, and maketh the mountains to skip
like a calf? that shaketh the wilderness, and divideth
the flames of fire 1 It is not Sinai's thunder, but a
soft and still voice. It is not the voice of Mount Ebal,
a voice of cursing and terror, but the voice of Mount
Genzim, the voice of blessing and glad tidings of good
things. It is not the voice of the trumpet nor the
voice of war, but a message of peace from the King of
peace. I may say to thee, O sinner, as Martha to her
sister, " The Master is come, and he calleth for thee,"
Now then, with Mary, arise quickly and come unto
him. How sweet are his invitations ! He crieth in
the open concourse, " If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink." How bountiful is he ! He ex-
cludeth none. u Whosever will, let him come and
take the water of life freely." " Whoso is wise, let
him turn m hither. Come, eat of my bread,, and
drink of the wine that I have mingled. Forsake the
foolish and live." " Come unto me, take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest to
your souls." " Him that cometh unto me, I will in nc
wise cast out." How doth he bemoan the obstinate
refuser ! " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! how often would
I have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not !" " Be-
hold me, behold me ! I have stretched out my hands
all the day to a rebellious people." O be persuaded
now at last to throw yourselves into the arms of his
love.
Behold, O ye sons of men, the Lord Jesus hath

154 conclusion. [Chap. VII

thrown open the prison, and now he cometh to you
by his ministers, and beseecheth you to come out. If
it were from a palace or paradise that Christ did call
you, it were no wonder that you were unwilling;
(and yet how easily was Adam tempted thence !) but
it is from your prison, from your chains, from the
dungeon, from the darkness, that he calleth you, and
yet will you not come ? He calls you unto liberty,
and yet will you not hearken ? His yoke is easy, his
laws are liberty, his service is freedom, and (whatever
prejudice you have against his ways) if God may be
believed, you shall find them all pleasure and peace,
and shall taste sweetness and joy unutterable, and
take infinite delight and felicity in them.

Sinners, I cannot tell how to give you over. I am
now ready to close, but I would see a covenant made
between Christ and you before I end. What ! shall I
leave you at last as I found you 1 Have you read
hitherto, and not yet resolved immediately to abandon
all your sins and to close with Jesus Christ ? Alas !
what shall I say ? what shall I do ? Will you turn
off all my importunity ? Have I run in vain ? Have
I used so many arguments, and spent so much time
to persuade you, and must I sit down at last in dis-
appointment ? But it is a small matter that you turn
me off; you put a slight upon the God that made you ;
you reject the compassion and beseechings of a Savior,
and will be found resisters of the Holy Ghost, if you
will not now be prevailed upon to repent and be con-
verted.

Well, though I have called you long, and you have
refused, I shall yet this once more lift up my voice
like a trumpet, and cry from the highest places of the
city before I conclude with a miserable exclamation

Chap- VII.] CONCLUSION. 155

4t All is over !" Once more I shall call after regard-
less sinners, that (if it be possible) I may awaken
them : " O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the
Lord." Unless you be resolved to die, lend your ears
to the last calls of mercy. Behold, in the name of
God I make open proclamation unto you : " Hearken
unto me, O ye children ; hear instruction and be wise,
and refuse it not."

" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters ; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and
eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend your
money for that which is not bread, and your labor for
that which satisneth not? Hearken diligently unto
me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul
delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come
unto me ; hear, and your soul shall live ; and I will
make an evei lasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David."

Ho, every one that is sick of any manner of disease
or torment, or is possessed with an evil spirit, whether
of pride, fury, lust, or covetousness, come ye to the
Physician, bring away your sick ; lo, here is he that
healeth all manner of sicknesses, and all manner of
diseases, among the people.

Ho, every one that is under conviction, and every
one that is in distress, and every one that is discon-
tented with himself, gather yourselves unto Christ,
and he will become a Captain over you. He will be
your protection from the arrests of the law ; he will
save you from the hand of divine justice. Behold, he
is an open sanctuary to you : he is a known refuge.
Away with your sins and come in unto him, lest the
avenger of blood seize you, lest devouring wrath over-
take you.

158 conclusion. LChap VII.

Ho, every blind and ignorant sinner, come and buy
eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Away with thy ex-
cuses ! thou art for ever lost if thou continue in this
state. But accept Christ for thy Prophet, and he will
be a light unto thee. Cry unto him for knowledge,
study his w6rd5 take pains about religion, humble thy-
self before God, and he will teach thee his way, and
make thee wise unto salvation. But if thou wilt not
follow him, but sit down because thou hast but one
talent, he will condemn thee for a wicked and slothful
servant.

Ho, every profane sinner come in and live. Return
unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on thee ; be
entreated. O return, come. Thou that hast filled thy
mouth with oaths and execrations, all manner of sins
and blasphemies shall be forgiven thee, if thou wilt
but thoroughly turn unto Christ and cxJme in. 0
unclean sinner, put away thy whoredoms out of thy
sight, and thy adulteries from between thy breasts,
and give up thyself unto Christ, as a vessel of holi-
ness, alone for his use ; and then, " Though thy sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow : and
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool."

Hear, O ye drunkards, how long will ye be drun-
ken ? Put away your wine. Though you have
rolled in the filthiness of your sin, take the cup of
repentance and heartily renounce your beloved lust,
and the Lord will receive you. Give up yourselves
unto Christ, to live soberly, righteously and godly
embrace his righteousness : accept his government
and though you have been unclean, he will wash
vou.

Hear, 0 ye loose companions, whose delight is in

Chap. VII.J conclusion. 157

vain and wicked society, to sport away your time in
carnal mirth ; come in at Wisdom's call, and choose
her and her ways, and you shall live.

Hear, O ye scorners, hear the word of the Lord ;
though you make a sport at godliness and the pro-
fessors thereof, though you have made a scorn of
Christ and of his ways, yet even to you doth he call,
to gather you under the wings of his mercy. In
a word, though you should be found among the worst
of the black roll, yet upon your thorough conversion
you shall be washed, you shall be justified, you shall
be sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God.

Ho, every formal professor, thou art but a luke-
warm Christian, and restest in the form of godli-
ness. Give over thy halting ; be throughout a Chris-
tian, and be zealous and repent : and then, though
thou hast been an offence to Christ, thou shalt be the
joy of his heart.

And now confess that mercy hath been offered
you. " I call heaven and earth to record against
you this day, that I have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing ; therefore choose life,
that you may live." I can but persuade and warn
you ; I cannot otherwise compel you to be happy ;
if I could, I would. What answer will you send me
with to my Master ? Let me speak to you as Abra-
ham's servant to Nahor's family, " And now if you
will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me."

0 for such a happy answer as Rebecca gave them !
" And they said, We will call the damsel and inquire
at her mouth. And they called Rebecca, and said
unto her, Wilt thou go with this man 1 and she said,

1 will go." O that I had but this from you ! Why

14 Alarm.

168 CONCLUSION. [.Chap. VII.

should I be your accuser, who thirst for your salva-
tion ? Why should the passionate pleadings of mercy
be turned into horrid aggravations of your obstinacy
and additions to your misery ? Judge in yourselves;
do you not think their condemnation will be doubly
dreadful, that shall still go on in their sins, after
all endeavors to recall them ? Doubtless " it shall
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, yea, for
Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than
for you !"

Sinners, if you have any pity for your perishing
souls, close with the present offers of mercy. If the
God that made you have any authority with you,
obey his command and come in. If yoa are not the
despisers of grace, and would not shut up the doors
of mercy against yourselves, repent and be converted ;
let not heaven stand open for you in vain ; let not the
Lord Jesus open his stores, and bid you buy without
money and without price in vain ; let not his Spirit
and ministers strive with you in vain, and leave you
now at last unpersuaded, lest the sentence of condem-
nation go forth against you.

Father of spirits, take the heart in hand that is too
hard for my weakness. Do not thou end, though I
have done. A word from thy effectual power will do
the work. O thou that hast the key of David, that
openest and no man shutteth, open thou this heart, as
thou didst Lydia's, and let the King of glory enter in.
and make this soul thy captive. Let not the tempter
harden him in delays ; let him not stir from this
place, nor take his eyes from these lines, till he re-
solve to forego his sins, and accept of life on thy self-
denying terms. In thy name, 0 Lord God, did I go

Chap. VII.J COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. 159

forth to these labors : in thy name do I close them.
Let not all the time they have cost be lost hours : let
not all the thoughts of the heart, and all the pains that
have been about them, be but lost labor. Lord, put
thy hand upon the heart of this reader, and send thy
Spirit, as once thou didst Philip, to join himself to the
chariot of the eunuch while he was reading the word.
And though I should never know it while I live, yet I
beseech thee, O Lord God, let it be found at the last
day that some souls are converted by these labors ;
and let some be able to stand forth and say, that by
these persuasions they were won unto thee. Amen,
Amen. Let him that readeth say Amen.

COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED.

Value no mercy barely as it may promote your tem-
poral welfare, but view it rather in inference to eternity,
and as it may serve to advance your Maker's glory. —
The cipher put to the figure is of great signification ;
but set by itself it signifies nothing at all. Creature
comforts separated from their respect to God and
eternity, are of no value ; but, in order to these ends,
they signify much. We have ease and fullness when
many others are in pain and poverty ; and we have
much the start of them, if we be wise to improve our
health, in laying in apace against a wet day, and pre-
paring apace for eternity, and serving the Lord with
more diligence, and cheerfulness, and gladness of
heart, in the abundance of all things : but, if this be
all we have by it, that our bones lie a little softer, and
our palates are tickled with a little more delight, what
profit have we by our health and estates ? If they
that are sick or poor, love and serve the Lord better

160 COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. [Chap. VII.

than we, they have the advantage of us ; ana better
were it for ns to be poor and sick as they are.

Rest not in probabilities for heaven, but labor for
certainties. — Beloved, certainty may be had, else the
counsel of God to make our calling and election sure
is in vain, else the experience of the saints were but
delusion, who tell us they " know they are passed
from death to life," else the power of self-reflection
were to no purpose, and the spirit which is in man
would not know the things of man. Now, if a cer-
tainty may be had, will you not try by all means to
obtain it? Sirs, you have need to push hard to get
assurance, and to get it now. We are ever at mise-
rable uncertainties for all outward enjoyments ; we
know not how soon we may be called to part with
them all. Professing Christians, will you be content
to have nothing sure? Will you not settle your
everlasting condition, seeing you are so unsettled as
to your outward condition 7 What will you do in
the day of visitation, when extremity comes in upon
you, if you have no assurance that God will receive
you ? It would make one's heart trembie to think of
being upon such a fearful temptation as to part with
all for Christ, and not to be sure of him neither. O
man, what an advantage will the tempter now have
upon thee, when he shall suggest, c Wilt thou be such
a fool as to let go all at once ? Thou seest heaven is
not sure, Christ is not sure ; therefore keep the world
whilst thou hast it, and hold what thou hast sure.5
Beloved, what a fearful slighting of God, and con-
tempt of heaven and glory, and all the promises, doth
this argue, that you can be content to be at uncer-
tainties whether they be yours or not ! How many of
you are there that do not know whether you be going

Chap. VII.J COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED* 161

to heaven or hell ! And what desperate carelessness
doth this argue, to go on from week to week in such
a case ! Some hopes you have that you shall do well,
but put me not off with hopes. Never be satisfied till
you are able to say, not only I hope I shall be saved,
but I know I am " passed from death to life ;" I
know that " when the earthly house of this taber-
nacle shall be dissolved, I have a building not made
with hands."

Be not satisfied with some grace ; but reach after
growth in grace. — Do not think all is done when you
have obtained the evidence of grace, but press toward
the increase. That person who doth not desire and
design perfection, never came up to sincerity. He
that desires grace truly, desires it not barely as a bridge
to heaven, and so to seek no more than will just bear
his charges thither; but he desires it for its own sake,
and therefore desires the height of it. That person
who desires grace only for heaven's sake, and inquires
what is the lowest measure of grace that any may have
to come to heaven (by which he means to be saved
from misery) upon this design, that if he could but
come to that pitch he would desire no more; that
person is rotten at the heart. Christians, the Lord doth
expect of you that you should not be babes and dwarfs ;
he looks now especially that you should make some
progress. What do you more than heretofore 1 What !
do you feel his spurs in your sides, and his whip at
your backs, yet never mend your pace in religion, nor
stir one jot the faster 1 Let me commend you to Paul's
study, It argues a base and unworthy spirit to content
ourselves with small things in religion.

Labor that holiness may become your nature, and re-
ligion your business.— Then you are come to somewhat
14*

102 C0UN9ELS FOR THE CONVERTED. [Chap. VII

indeed in religion, when the work of God is become
your natural and beloved employment, your meat and
drink, your work and wages ; when your tongues and
hearts naturally run on God, as others on and of the
world. Much of that may be attained by constant care
and prayer. Brethren, let God's work be done by you,
not by the by, but as your greatest business : " Seek
first the kingdom of God ;" that so, whatsoever you do,
you may be able to give the same account of yourselves
that our Savior did when they inquired of him — that
you are about your Father's business.

Confine not religion to your knees, but carry on an
even thread of holiness through your whole course. — It
is the disgrace of religion that Christians are so unlike
themselves unless it be when they are in holy duties.
This wounds religion to the quick, when it shall be
said of professors, These men indeed will pray like
angels, but, for aught we can see, they are as peevish
and touchy as any other men, and they are as hard in
their dealings, and make as little conscience of their
words as others do. Beloved, do not think religion
lies only or chiefly in praying, hearing, or reading;
for you must be throughout religious. Sirs, bring forth
your religion out of your closets into your ordinary
course ; let there not be a life of holiness on the outside
of the cloth, but let holiness be woven into the whole of
your conversation. Herein consists the excellency and
difficulty of religion; when you have the baits of intem-
perance before you, then to hold the reins hard and
deny your flesh ; when you have provocation before
you, then to restrain your passions and bridle the un-
ruly member; when you have dealings with others,
then to proceed by that golden rule of equity and cha-
rity to do unto others as you would have them to do

Chap. VII.J COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED. 163

in like case to you ; when you are called upon by your
several relations, then to behave yourselves with that
tenderness and love, with that reverence and obedience,
with that courtesy, condescension, and kindness which
becomes you in your various capacities. In this, I say,
lies the excellence of religion.

Ever walk with your chief end in view. — It is true,
according to the usual similitude, the traveler thinks
not of his journey's end every step, nor need he; yet
he never loses sight of it. it is never out of his mind.
Brethren, there is nothing hinders but that, with
prayer and watchfulness, you might come to this in
every solemn action, to mind God as your chief end.
Impose this on yourselves as your daily rule to walk
by, never to lie down but with these thoughts, " Well,
I will make use of my bed as an ordinance of God, for
my natural refreshment, that a servant of his may be
fitted for his work." Never to rise up but with these
thoughts, " I will set out this day in the name of the
Lord, and make it my business throughout the day to
please him." Never to set about your callings, but in
the entrance think thus, " I will set about my employ-
ment in obedience to God, because it is his will I should
walk with him in my place and station." Never to sit
at your tables but thinking," I will now eat and drink,
not merely to feed my flesh, but to cherish a servant
of Christ Jesus, that he may have strength for his
service." Charge this upon yourselves, and examine
in the evening how you have minded it, and check
yourselves wherein you come short. Once learn this
and you are come to something, and shall have the
undoubted evidence of your sincerity, and shall know
bv experience the blessed mystery of walking with
God.

164 COUNSELS FOR THE CONVERTED.

Be and do more than ordinary in your closets and
families.

In your closets. — Be more than ever in self-examina-
tion. And here let me put it to your consciences : Are
you habitual in examining yourselves by the word of
God? Do you try yourselves by it daily? Ah, wretch-
ed negligence ! What, have you given your approba-
tion and yet forget your duty ? God expects it of you,
that, now you know his will, you should with more
zealous fear, and tender circumspection, and holy
watchfulness and self-denial, walk before him 5 else
you will greatly excite his indignation.

Finally — In your families. The Lord calls you to set
your houses in order. O see what is amiss in them,
and strive to cast out whatever may be a pro vocal ion.

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